Morocco participates in 9th edition of the Africities Summit

The 9th edition of the Africities Summit launched on Tuesday in the Kenyan city of Kisumu, with the participation of Morocco.

The Moroccan delegation is comprised of local authorities, elected officials, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, experts, as well as several actors related to the theme of the Summit, as it will actively participate in the work of this summit, held from May 17 to May 21.

The first session, which will take place on Wednesday, will focus on the issue of the performance of municipalities. It aims to inform on the objectives and processes of support to the performance of Moroccan municipalities, as well as to promote the Moroccan experience in strengthening participatory and inclusive local development.

During the same day, the delegation of the General Directorate of Local Collectives (DGCT) will organize a session on the African Support Fund for International Decentralized Cooperation of local authorities (FACDI).

The aim is to present the framework, objectives and procedures of the Fund, set up by the Ministry of the Interior, to strengthen decentralized cooperation of Moroccan local authorities with their African counterparts and to invite local authorities to seize the opportunity of launching the 3rd call for projects of the said fund.

In addition, the 3rd session focuses on intermediate cities as drivers of inclusive and resilient territorial development.

Scheduled for Thursday, this session aims to present the vision of Morocco and the steps taken to promote intermediate cities as levers of territorial resilience.

For its part, the 4th session, to be held on Friday, relates to the digital and intelligent transformation of local authorities in Morocco and Africa, with the aim of highlighting the structuring projects of digitalization, deployed at the level of local authorities, and launch the creation of an African Network of Smart Cities.

In addition, the Moroccan stand will be an opportunity to promote the experience of decentralization and advanced regionalization in the Kingdom, as well as the various national strategies in tourism, industry and economy.

With an area of 192 square meters, the stand will bring together the DGCT and 3 associations of presidents of local authorities, namely the Association of Regions of Morocco, the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Prefectural and Provincial Councils and Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils, as well as other institutional partners.

It will also be an opportunity to promote the city of Rabat as the African Capital of Culture.

The opening ceremony was marked by the presence of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Chairman of the African Union Commission (AU), Moussa Faki Mahamat and the AU High Representative for Infrastructure, Raila Odinga.

Also taking part in the ceremony were the president of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa organization,Christine Mba Ndutume, and the executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program, Maimunah Mohd Sharif.

Held for the first time in an intermediary city, Africities’ 9th edition is themed “The Contribution of African Intermediary Cities to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063.”

In their opening remarks, various speakers emphasized the need to empower intermediate cities and small towns to ensure economic inclusion for all African citizens, calling for the acceleration of investments in intermediate cities to achieve economic balance.

They also called for boosting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, implementing the AU Agenda 2063, building city resilience and adopting smart agriculture, saying that Africa needs to renew its thinking in terms of economic transformation and sustainable development.

The Africities Summit is the most important democratic meeting in Africa, bringing together the largest number of elected officials from the largest number of countries, said the organizers.