The Royal Atlantic Initiative is a visionary approach that mobilizes new potential for win-win cooperation and co-development in the Atlantic-Sahel region, in an Africa that relies on its own resources and is open to the world, Morocco's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, said in Rabat on Friday.
This initiative, a Royal gesture that is as audacious as it is unprecedented in Africa, is motivated solely by the objective of proactive regional cooperation, in a revisited geographical space, with a peaceful and solidarity-based approach, said Hilale at the 3rd edition of the annual MD Sahara Forum, held under the theme: “Atlantic Front 2030: A Royal Vision for an era of transcontinental connection and prosperity”.
His Majesty the King's initiative to grant the landlocked countries of the Sahel a corridor to the Atlantic Ocean is both realistic and highly strategic, in more ways than one. Firstly, it reflects His Majesty the King's unwavering commitment to the Kingdom's deep roots in Africa, and to the unity of Africa, he noted.
It is also, he pointed out, in line with the many visits the Sovereign has made to the African Continent, and with the gigantic socio-economic projects launched and now fully operational for the benefit of brotherly African countries, adding that it perfectly embodies the Royal Vision for a united, prosperous and self-reliant Africa, with no other objective than to promote peace, stability and socio-economic development in the brotherly African countries of the Sahel.
Hilale noted, in this connection, that this Initiative is part of HM the King's multidimensional strategy for Africa in general and its Atlantic coastline in particular, in this case, the establishment of the initiative of the 23 African Atlantic States initiated in 2009, the creation on the sidelines of the COP22 in Marrakech of 3 Climate Commissions: the first for the Sahel, the second for the Congo Basin and the third for island states, and the launch of the Morocco-Nigeria Mega Gas Pipeline project, which will greatly benefit the 12 countries it will cross, in addition to those on the European continent.
Hilale also pointed out that the Peace-Security-Prosperity nexus makes the centrality of development the keystone for resolving the problems of the Sahel.
The Royal Initiative, a real model of inspiration for opening up the world's 47 countries, is in line with the UN's goals for landlocked countries, which will be holding their UN Conference in Kigali later this year, and serves as a lever to boost development not only within the Sahel countries, but also in the entire subregion and the African continent in the longer term, he noted.
