RABAT, Morocco, September 7, 2023/ — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, chaired, on September 06th, 2023, at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, the 160th session of the Council of the League of Arab States at ministerial level.
In a speech delivered on this occasion, Mr. Nasser Bourita said that the current situation in the Arab world, characterized by its fragility and complexity, with the proliferation of hotbeds of tension and crises in a competitive international context, cannot be transcended in the absence of a common vision backed by strong political will and an effective commitment to the principles of good neighborliness, national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of States.
Presiding over the Council of the League of Arab States at Foreign Minister level, Mr. Bourita noted that “the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify Him, and based on the Kingdom’s conviction that the destiny of the Arab nation depends on the coordination of the efforts of all its countries, remains convinced that this situation, fraught with risks, cannot be overcome in the absence of a common vision backed by strong political will and an effective commitment to the principles of respect for good neighborliness, national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of States.”
It is a vision that aims to “stimulate genuine opportunities for regional partnership and cooperation, and mobilize the creative resources of our countries to meet common and global development challenges,” he added.
To this end, the Minister highlighted the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI for joint Arab cooperation, which consists in the adoption of an “Arab solidarity strategy” to meet the challenges facing up Arab countries, based on a set of priorities including the creation of an environment conducive to the settlement of bilateral disputes, by examining the state of progress of joint Arab action and identifying obstacles, in order to move forward with maximum efforts to create an environment conducive to the settlement of these disputes, and building confidence, without which the desired objectives and the fulfillment of peoples’ aspirations for unity, harmony and dignity cannot be achieved, he said.
Bourita also stressed the need to bring political and development issues into line with each other, ensuring that we continue to give due consideration to these political issues and to the major challenges of development, particularly with regard to investment projects and exchanges of experience, considered to be the pillars of national security, the very essence of the concerns of Arab countries, the main indicator of the reliability of joint work, and the best means of keeping up with globalization and the knowledge and communication society.
The Minister called for complementarity within the framework of harmonious Arab regional groupings, adopting an approach that is more supportive and complementary, both within the framework of these integrated groupings and of a solid Arab bloc, capable of responding to the vital and real aspirations of brotherly peoples, for common progress and reasonable integration.
He stressed the importance of integrating new partners by expanding the space for Arab cooperation between governments, through projects that bring together political and representative bodies, local authorities, civil society, economic and social players, as well as intellectual, media and artistic elites, in addition to taking advantage of partnership opportunities between the Arab League and other regional groupings and major states, within a framework of respect for the specific characteristics of Arab peoples and their national identities.
The aim is also to consolidate South-South cooperation on the basis of efficiency, performance and credibility, both in human terms and in terms of investment and the economy, he added.
Bourita also stressed the need to modernize the bodies and mechanisms of joint Arab action, following the example of other regional groupings which have made economic integration the ideal prelude to achieving unity and complementarity between their members.
The Palestinian cause will remain at the top of the priorities of joint Arab action, Bourita said, stressing that this is a sincere commitment adopted by Morocco, under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, far from any sterile one-upmanship.
Referring to the situation in some Arab countries that are still experiencing political crises, wars and conflicts, such as Syria, Yemen and Sudan, Bourita stressed that the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty the King, has great hopes of seeing stability reign in these countries, by giving precedence to dialogue and peaceful initiatives, far from the logic of force and military solutions.
