Thanks to the special relations that Morocco has forged with African countries, particularly those in the Sahel and West Africa, the Kingdom and France have "a lot to do together" on the African continent, French ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier said Friday in Casablanca.
The French ambassador, who was hosting a conference-debate on Franco-Moroccan relations at the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences in Ain Chock, recalled Morocco's "longer-standing and more stable relations with African countries," which make the Kingdom "the country best perceived by public opinion in the Sahel.”
"We can work together to strengthen our solidarity and our common destiny in the face of our competitors,” said the diplomat.
In this respect, Lecourtier recalled that relations between Europe and Africa necessarily pass through the Maghreb, the Sahel and West Africa, stressing that this reality "is in line with the vision of His Majesty the King" Mohammed VI, who has made Morocco's anchorage in its African depth one of the major pillars of the Kingdom's foreign policy.
While emphasizing France's willingness to enhance its partnership with Morocco, the French ambassador said that his country has "the capacity to be a useful ally and partner, without exclusivity or monopoly.” "Without arrogance, Morocco is right to want to see France around the table and to want, as we want with it, to refound this very ambitious agenda," he added.
"This means that we must be capable of living up to the role that you may wish to give us, one of the major partners for the next 20 years. This means that we must be able to mobilize financial resources, and in terms of expertise, investment and research,” pointed out the French ambassador.
Regarding the question of the quality training needed to support this partnership, and drawing on Morocco's "absolutely central positioning in this area of co-prosperity," Lecourtier stressed that the key would be to ensure the training of thousands of young Moroccans, Europeans and Sub-Saharans, at both higher and intermediate levels, with facilitated mobility, leading to a win-win partnership.
"In this field, Morocco and France can make Morocco a place where Moroccans, French, Sub-Saharans and Europeans come to train and be able to +irrigate+ our Euro-Moroccan-African region to realize our destiny," said the diplomat.
The conference was organized by the Links Foundation, chaired by former minister and Moroccan ambassador to France, Mohamed Berrada.
