Morocco meets with Sahel countries to discuss access to Atlantic Ocean

Ministerial coordination on the international initiative of King Mohammed VI to promote access of the Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean will convene on Saturday in Marrakech, with the participation of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso as well as Chad.

This Royal Initiative was announced in the Royal Speech on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Green March, in which the King specified that “To resolve the difficulties and problems facing the sister States of the Sahel, the solution cannot be exclusively security or military, but it must be based on an approach of cooperation and common development.

To promote access of the Sahel States to the Atlantic Ocean, “We are proposing the launch of an initiative on an international scale”, underlined the King.

The king also specified that for such a proposal to succeed, it is essential to upgrade the infrastructure of the Sahel States and connect them to the transport and communication networks established in their regional environment.

Therefore, the Royal Initiative shall open the way to allow Sahel countries to access Moroccan roads and port infrastructure. The King also affirmed this, as he emphasized that “Morocco is ready to make its road, port, and rail infrastructure available to them to support this initiative.”

The foreign ministers of the Sahel countries will participate in the coordination meeting taking place in Marrakech, at the initiative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans living abroad, Nasser Bourita.

With regional and international scope, this Royal initiative is an extension of the constant efforts deployed by Morocco, led by the King, for a prosperous Africa.

The initiative offers unprecedented potential capable of providing adapted solutions to strengthen regional integration and cooperation, the structural transformation of the economies of these sister countries, and the improvement of the living conditions of the Sahel-Saharan population, in the framework of an innovative and integrated approach promoting stability and security in the region.