Marrakech Conference adopts by acclamation Morocco-U.S. Joint Declaration of Proliferation Security Initiative on WMDs

The Political Conference of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) dedicated to African countries, held in Marrakech from January 31 to February 2, adopted by acclamation the Morocco-United States Joint Declaration entitled “Marrakech Declaration.”

The Declaration embraces an action plan under the co-chairmanship of Morocco and the United States, centered around three main axes: encouraging African countries endorsing the PSI to participate in future meetings of the initiative, promoting the organization of exercises and workshops for training and operational cooperation for new African members of the PSI, as well as joint action to encourage other African countries to endorse it through awareness-raising activities and the holding of regional and sub-regional meetings.

The Declaration also reaffirmed that one of the objectives of the Marrakech meeting and its follow-up process is to strengthen South-South cooperation as a framework for African countries to benefit from synergies at the sub-regional and regional levels.

The Marrakech Declaration welcomed the official announcement by five African countries of their accession to the PSI, namely Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Zambia, Togo, and Benin, bringing the number of African countries members of this initiative to 11.
Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Nigeria have also expressed their intent to join the initiative soon.

During the conference, several African nations commended Morocco for its concrete and pragmatic contributions, specifically targeting the enhancement of South-South cooperation and the development of African national capacities in technical, security, and operational domains, all aimed at combating the proliferation of WMDs.

The Marrakech Conference, co-chaired by US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, Bonnie Jenkins, and Director of UN & International Organizations at the Foreign Ministry Redouane Houssaini, witnessed an unprecedented participation of 25 African countries, representing diverse regions of the continent. Attendees included foreign ministers, other governmental officials, as well as regional partners and allies.

The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), launched in 2003, is a multilateral cooperation framework with the primary objective of combating the illicit trafficking of Weapons of Mass Destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials.

With these new comers, the Proliferation Security Initiative against WMD currently has 111 participating states.