Mohammed Methqal: "Morocco wants to put its experience at the service of African countries"
The ambassador and general director of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation, Mohammed Methqal, participated in the Africa Spain Business Summit held in Barcelona and gave a presentation on the role of international cooperation in the promotion of education and the training of future leaders.
He had time to meet with Atalayar to discuss Morocco's experience in the African environment in terms of trade and economic relations and foreign investment.
One Africa has organised the 2nd Africa Spain Business Summit in Barcelona. What role does this type of forum play in promoting trade relations between Africa and Europe?
Firstly, it is a forum that is now in its second edition. This type of conference brings together economic operators, representatives of the public sector and civil servants, making it a platform for exchange and meetings that helps to launch a series of programmes and actions to benefit the African continent, but also Europe and Spain in particular.
The Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation has highlighted Morocco's role as the leading investor in West Africa. What is it doing to promote cooperation and trade relations with other African countries?
Indeed, the Kingdom of Morocco is very committed to Africa. His Majesty King Mohammed VI is personally committed to this dynamic. He has visited more than 30 countries and has made more than 50 visits since 1999.
Thanks to this royal vision, which places the human element at the heart of all the actions, initiatives and programmes that Morocco shares with African countries, we have managed to develop an ecosystem at the service of this acceleration of the African emergency, in which we will find actors from both the public and private sectors, with the presence also of Moroccan banks, as well as representatives of civil society.
Morocco, as the gateway to Africa, and Spain, as the gateway to Europe, have no choice but to understand each other. At a time when diplomatic and trade relations are excellent, what role do they have to play in channelling trade relations between the two continents?
Morocco is already Spain's leading African partner, with all the projects that are being developed in the Kingdom with an African focus, be they infrastructures, energy transition or human development. This Morocco-Spain relationship is set to grow stronger thanks to the vision that our two heads of state defend for this bilateral relationship, but it can also contribute to solving the emergency on the African continent.
Morocco has air links with more than 30 cities on the African continent, first-rate ports in the Mediterranean such as Tangier Med, projects such as the port of Dakhla, the first high-speed railway line in Africa and excellent logistical infrastructures. What can it do to export this successful model to other African countries?
Morocco's vocation is not to export its model, but to share the experience it has developed, put it at the service of African partner countries and work with sub-Saharan African countries to develop innovative and pragmatic solutions that are based on local realities and enable these countries, and the continent as a whole, to grow faster for the benefit of the population.
Is there a specific project of your agency that you would like to highlight?
The Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation was created in 1986. Thanks to the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI since 1999, the agency's activities have been diversified and strengthened on a daily basis.
Its action, within the framework of South-South cooperation advocated by His Majesty the King for the benefit of the African continent, occupies an important place, as it allows us to develop partnerships in the Kingdom of Morocco within the framework of our network, whether in the public sector, the private sector or civil society. We are therefore stepping up the development of new programmes that can brilliantly support young Africans.
