Morocco Is Leading Countries Of The Atlantic To A New Union‏ – OpEd

On November 30 to December 1 the Moroccan High Commission For Planning and the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) are co-organising the second conference entitled “The Initiative For an Atlantic Community”.

The second inter-institutional meeting of the Atlantic Community will gather heads of the respective institutions, former and current ministers, ambassadors, CEOs and international experts coming from Europe, Latin America, Africa Canada and the United States. The forum will take place in Skhirat, a very beautiful beach resort near Rabat along the Atlantic coast.

Morocco

The forum is aiming at mobilising political support for key Atlantic projects as well as at giving a major impetus to cooperation in different fields to countries of the Atlantic.

The Moroccan High Commissioner for Planning Minister Ahmed Alami Lahlimi said in one his press interviews that “Morocco through this endeavour is bringing together senior representatives of atlantic countries for this important occasion – the second high-level gathering of the Skhirat forum. It will be a very useful occasion where we will have the opportunity to discuss how we go forward. We now have the opportunity to work closer together and to bring impetus to the atlantic community activities: focusing on tangible real projects, to be able to address not just long-term but also short and medium term challenges of the people of the Atlantic. I’m looking forward to seeing cooperation at this forum and preparing the meetings for future forums on transport, energy, security, education, economic growth and private sector cooperation and other key issues of interest to the Atlantic populations.”

He added that “this however does not aim to exclude other non Atlantic countries.”

The Initiative For an Atlantic Community seeks to contribute to a feeling of belonging to a community among the many different peoples connected to the Atlantic Ocean. By creating this sense of community, the peoples living in the Atlantic area are expected to be more able to fulfill their ambitions through cooperation, and to respond more effectively to the many challenges facing this zone.

The Initiative For an Atlantic Community will be inclusive and will emphasise values such as freedom, social cohesion, human dignity as well as sustainable economic and ecological development, and a decent life for all. It will also value and appreciate the diversity among its peoples who will work together through constructive cooperation.

The Initiative For an Atlantic Community will focus particularly on several domains: the economy (including trade, investment, energy, natural resources and building a rules-based system), human development, science and technology (using the knowledge available), food security , and naturally the element connecting the various nations and peoples of this area: the Atlantic Ocean (preserving the ecological systems of the region). Obviously, collaboration with any other initiatives that share the same objectives will be strongly welcomed.

The Initiative For an Atlantic Community takes the responsibility to engage state and non-state actors in order to move their own Atlantic area in a legitimate order and good shape. It will explore new dynamic ways of governance, capable of sustaining development in a century of thorough globalisation, with its many opportunities and challenges. The new ways of Atlantic governance might contribute to the renewal and improvement of global governance. The activities of this initiative will be concentrated on issues that directly concern the Atlantic peoples. But it intends, through its innovative governance and its management of the Atlantic common elements, to have also a positive influence on the world at large.

Morocco is certainly looking forward for the success of this initiative and hopes that it will lead towards the creation of a new regional entity that will benefit not only the Atlantic countries but the whole world.