Guinea-Bissau has reiterated its steadfast and unwavering position in support of Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its entire territory, including the Sahara region, and lauded the royal initiatives destined to support Africa’s progress and development.
The supportive stand was expressed by Guinea-Bissau’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fatumata Jau, in a statement to the press in Rabat Monday, following talks with her Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita.
Mrs. Fatumata Jau also reaffirmed Guinea-Bissau’s full support for the Morocco-proposed autonomy plan as the only credible and realistic solution to resolving the artificial Sahara dispute.
In this regard, she emphasized the importance of the opening by her country of a Consulate General in Dakhla in October 2020, a move that confirms the strength of the partnership between the two brotherly countries.
Jau noted that this opening falls in line with the international momentum spearheaded by King Mohammed VI in support of the autonomy plan and Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara.
In the same vein, the Guinean-Bissau foreign minister welcomed the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2797, which establishes the Autonomy Plan under Moroccan sovereignty as the basis for a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable solution to this dispute.
In a joint statement issued following talks between the two countries’ Foreign Ministers, Guinea-Bissau lauded the initiatives launched by King Mohammed VI in support of Africa’s rise and development and welcomed the momentum generated through the Atlantic African States Process.
This process forms a geostrategic framework offering significant opportunities for synergy, cooperation, and development in strategic areas for the benefit of its member countries, Jau was quoted in the joint statement as saying.
The Guinean-Bissau foreign minister further commended the Royal Initiative to promote access to the Atlantic Ocean for Sahel countries, highlighting the strategic significance of this Initiative, which forms part of the Kingdom’s active solidarity with its African sister nations.
She welcomed the progress achieved on the Africa-Atlantic Gas Pipeline project linking Nigeria to Morocco, calling it an exemplary symbol of South-South cooperation.
During their talks, the two sides reviewed the progress scored in bilateral cooperation that they described as very positive in various fields. They also discussed ways of turning the partnership between the two countries into a model of intra-African cooperation, based on values of solidarity, exchange, and sharing and agreed to further promote cooperation in key sectors such as vocational training, health, telecommunications, agriculture and marine fisheries, tourism, port management, mining, finance, and institutional capacity building.
Bourita and his Guinea-Bissauan peer also called for continued implementation of the agreements signed during the 4th Joint Cooperation Commission, held on July 16, 2024, in Laayoune.
The two officials agreed to organize a week-long event to promote Guinea-Bissau’s economy in Morocco this coming September, with a view to reinforcing Moroccan investment in sectors targeted by Guinea-Bissau, while emphasizing the importance of establishing a Moroccan-Guinea-Bissau Business Council to foster the development of trade between the two countries.
