Morocco to Set Up Ministerial Department for African Affairs

King Mohammed VI announced that Morocco will create a new ministerial department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in charge of African affairs.

The King who announced the decision at a speech marking the opening session of the new legislative year said that the new African affairs department will be tasked, inter alia, with following-up Moroccan investments in the continent.

The decision is in line with the Kingdom’s reinvigorated African policy, notably after the country made it back to the African institutional family, the African Union, after a landslide vote.

The creation of the African affairs ministerial department will build on Morocco’s triumphal return to the African Union, which was underpinned by a south-south cooperation approach yielding win-win projects.

Morocco’s endeavor to reinforce its foothold in the continent is taking shape through a series of measures, the most important of which, after joining the African Union, is the upcoming membership in the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS).

The King had outlined that Morocco views the ECOWAS as a natural extension of the AU. “By joining both institutions, Morocco will contribute to economic prosperity and human development on the continent,” the Monarch said last August in a speech on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People.

Morocco’s African Policy also takes shape on the ground through flagship projects, like the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic gas pipeline project, the construction of fertilizer plants in Ethiopia and Nigeria as well as human development projects designed to improve the living conditions of African citizens, such as the creation of healthcare facilities, vocational training institutions and fishermen’s villages.