Morocco-Peru Political Consultations: Lima praises Atlantic Initiative launched by King Mohammed VI
Peru has praised the Atlantic Initiative, launched by King Mohammed VI, a move aimed at transforming this continental maritime space into a zone of peace, stability, and development.
This position was expressed at the seventh edition of the Morocco-Peru Political Consultations Mechanism, held this week in Lima. The edition coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on June 27, 1964.
The Atlantic Initiative was announced by King Mohammed VI, in a speech he delivered on November 6, 2023. “Our wish is that the Atlantic coast becomes a high place of human communion, a pole of economic integration, and a center of continental and international influence,” the King had said, explaining that “Morocco has taken the initiative to create an institutional framework bringing together the 23 Atlantic African States with a view to consolidating security, stability, and shared prosperity in the region».
The Atlantic initiative seeks to bolster logistical connectivity, by both maritime and air routes, among the countries of the South, particularly in the Afro-Arab-Latin American geo-economic areas, where global resources and raw materials are concentrated. So, enhancing logistical connectivity will facilitate the exchange of goods, stimulate investment flows, and significantly shorten the distance between wealth-generating production chains and the sources of raw materials.
During the Lima meeting, the two countries welcomed the convergence of their views on a host of regional and international issues, which illustrates their shared commitment to peace, stability, and sustainable development.
In addition to the great interest shown in development proposals and structuring projects, the Morocco-Peru Political Consultations meeting highlighted by the drafting of multisectoral roadmap, translating the two countries’ commitment to launch initiatives in several cooperation sectors during 2024.
Discussions between the two sides covered all the priority topics on the agenda, with a particular focus on stepping up trade and economic exchanges, technical cooperation in education and culture, as well as cooperation in the fields of water resources, agronomic research, science, technology, and tourism.
The Moroccan delegation, led by Fouad Yazourh, Director General of Bilateral Relations and Regional Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, also held talks with members of the Peruvian Congress who hailed the major structuring and development projects in the sectors of renewable energy, infrastructure, industry, and agriculture sectors, launched in all regions of the Kingdom, particularly in the southern provinces.
The Peruvian legislators stressed the importance to further promote trade and economic exchanges between Morocco and Peru, and envisage the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.
They also welcomed King Mohammed VI’s African Atlantic Initiative, which will strengthen cooperation between the Sahel states and those along the Atlantic seaboard.
The talks with Alejandro Soto Reyes, Speaker of the Peruvian Congress, Alejandro Aguinaga, Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee, members of the Foreign Relations Committee, and members of the Peru-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group, chaired by Ernesto Bustamante, hailed the level of parliamentary cooperation between the two countries’ legislative institutions.
Fouad Yazourh thanked the Peruvian Congress for its friendship and constant support for the Kingdom’s supreme interests and welcomed the official institutionalization of Morocco’s Parliamentary Day in the Peruvian Congress in November of each year, in commemoration of the King’s historic visit to Peru in 2004, the first by an Arab or African Head of State.
