African Countries Seek to Join Moroccan Initiative to Enhance Trade Exchange

On Saturday in Marrakech, the Foreign Ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Chad expressed their countries' intention to join a recently launched initiative by Moroccan King Mohammed VI aimed at "enhancing access for Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean" to develop trade and communication between African countries. The foreign ministers emphasized in a final statement, following a coordination ministerial meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, the "strategic importance of this initiative, which falls within the framework of the active solidarity measures by King Mohammed VI with African brother countries in general, and the Sahel region in particular." The initiative aims to provide "significant opportunities for the economic transformation of the entire region, through the acceleration of regional communication and trade flows, leading to mutual prosperity in the Sahel." The Moroccan monarch announced this initiative on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Green March, which was undertaken by Morocco to regain its desert territories from Spanish colonial rule. The foreign ministers of the four African countries agreed to "establish a national working team in each country to prepare and propose implementation methods for this initiative."