Morocco backs AU efforts to promote inclusive business

Morocco welcomed the creation by the African Union Commission (AUC) of the Africa Inclusive Markets Excellence Centre (AIMEC) which will have a key role to play to help African economies recover from the pandemic impact, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said.

Inclusive business is conducive to post-Covid economic recovery, said Bourita on the sidelines of the 38th ordinary session of the AU Executive Council, held remotely.

Bourita, who deplored the widening social and economic disparities in the continent because of the crisis, stressed the need for African economies to work together in order to “adopt, across all value chains, strategies that would allow the establishment of inclusive ecosystems that bring added value and benefit everyone.”

In this respect, he voiced Morocco’s support for a closer south-south cooperation in Africa, which has been made clear during a speech by King Mohammed VI at the extraordinary summit of heads of state and government of the AU on the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF) in 2018.

The King had stressed Morocco’s advocacy of co-development based on inter-African cooperation and economic complementarity, on active solidarity and the pooling of efforts.

Bourita added that economic integration should set aims beyond increasing trade and investments in order to help resolve the pressing challenges facing the continent, notably food and energy security as well as social and economic development challenges.

Led by the African Union Commission (AUC), the AIMEC aims to become the premier Pan-African regional platform for thought leadership and action on inclusive business and inclusive markets, identifying, facilitating and replicating best practice and innovation in inclusive business and inclusive markets policy, programming and partnerships.