Côte d’Ivoire reiterates unwavering support to Moroccanness of Sahara, hails King’s commitment to Africa

Côte d’Ivoire has reiterated its steadfast position in favor of the Moroccan Sahara, and its unwavering support to Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its entire territory and hailed the King’s strong commitment to peace and development in Africa.

The stance was renewed by Ivorian Foreign Minister Kacou Houadja Léon Adom during a news conference held following talks with his Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita in Rabat Wednesday.

The head of Ivorian diplomacy reaffirmed his country’s full support for the Morocco-proposed autonomy plan, which constitutes, he said, the only credible and realistic solution for resolving this regional dispute.

He also praised the efforts of the United Nations as the exclusive framework for achieving a realistic, practical, and sustainable solution to the dispute over the Sahara.
As a token of its recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara, Côte d’Ivoire opened a General Consulate in Laayoune in February 2020.

During the news conference, the Ivorian official also hailed the leadership of King Mohammed VI and his African vision in favor of the continent’s peace, stability, and socio-economic development, as outlined in the Sovereign’s speech in Abidjan in March 2014.

In this connection, he commended the King’s initiative to facilitate access for Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean, highlighting the strategic importance of this initiative within the framework of Morocco’s active solidarity with African countries.

The two officials welcomed the momentum generated within the framework of the Atlantic African States Process to make the Atlantic African space a geostrategic framework that holds significant opportunities for synergy and cooperation among the countries it encompasses in strategic areas such as the environment, food security, health, energy, logistical interconnection, resource sharing, and exchange of experiences. This framework could, in this regard, become a zone of co-emergence and stability.

They also expressed their satisfaction with the progress in the implementation of the mega-project of the West African gas pipeline between Morocco and Nigeria, as well as the methodology followed to bring into being this project, a symbol of South-South cooperation which, once completed, will contribute to improving the living conditions of the population and strengthening regional economic integration.