World Water Forum: Morocco, Mali to strengthen cooperation in water realms

Morocco and Mali agreed, Thursday in Bali (Indonesia), to strengthen their cooperation in the water sector.

“We have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation between our two countries in the water sector”, said Equipment and Water Minister, Nizar Baraka, following a meeting with Mali’s Minister of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development, Mamadou Samake, on the fringes of the 10th World Water Forum.

Praising the historic ties between the two brotherly countries, Baraka noted that the meeting provided an opportunity to discuss several areas of bilateral cooperation in the water field, including dams, sanitation, financing, adaptation, and integrated water resource management.

The two officials also discussed the Atlantic Initiative launched by King Mohammed VI to promote access to the Atlantic Ocean for Sahel states, as well as the initiative of Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA), launched by the King at COP22, and ways for Mali to benefit from this initiative to adapt its agricultural sector to climate change.

For his part, Samake praised Morocco’s expertise in the fields of dams, water management, and irrigation, noting that this expertise was of great interest to Mali.

The meeting also discussed potential projects to strengthen the resilience of populations living in desert or Sahel zones, which remain particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

“Morocco and Mali share strong relations. We want to further strengthen and deepen our cooperation for the common interest of the people of both countries,” the Malian official said.

“We have agreed to organize a ministerial visit to Morocco to exchange views on the various issues discussed today, and to define a roadmap for the vision that drives our two countries”, he added.