Rabat continúa acercándose a América Latina y el Caribe

Since the 1990s, the King of Morocco, Mohammed V, has been the main architect and driving force behind an important campaign to strengthen and consolidate Rabat's international, diplomatic and economic relations with powers around the world. In this scenario, one of the regions that has seen the greatest changes in the direction of its alliances has been Latin America and the Caribbean, which, over the course of the last 30 years, has increasingly moved closer to the Alawi Kingdom. 

The conference 'A New Scenario for South-South Cooperation between Morocco and Latin America and the Caribbean', held on 30 March at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences of the Mohammed V University in Rabat, was a space for reflection and debate on the dynamics of cooperation and rapprochement between the two regions. Attendees from Latin America and the Caribbean had the opportunity to attend the event via videoconference. 

The three main panels in which the congress was structured were "Traces of Africa in Latin America and the Caribbean", "South-South Cooperation: Morocco as a bridge between Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean", and "The Latin American and Caribbean vision of South-South cooperation". These were attended by leading Caribbean, Latin American and Moroccan academics and specialists, as well as Jamal Eddine El Heini, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences; Remo Carlotto, executive director of the MERCOSUR Institute for Public Policy on Human Rights (IPPDH); and Abdelmounaim Bounou, professor and main moderator of the event.

After Jamal Eddine's welcome, officially starting the meeting, IPPDH's executive director, Remo Carlotto, gave the inaugural speech "Integration and public policies: the experience of the IPPDH MERCOSUR", highlighting the importance of cooperative relations between the African continent and the whole of Latin America. This would also allow for the exchange of experiences in the field of human rights and key issues, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

During his speech, Carlotto also referred to the regional integration process of MERCOSUR, emphasising the institutionalisation of fundamental values for integration, such as the defence of human rights or democracy, and highlighted the importance of the Programme for South-South Cooperation (PAC-South) - created in 2018 - for the creation of spaces for dialogue on human rights between the different regional blocs. 

In general terms, the conference promoted collective reflection and analysis among the analysts and specialists in attendance, all with the aim of consolidating the creation of a shared future.

Relations between Morocco and the Latin American powers have moved rapidly towards rapprochement in recent years. An example of this was Rabat's entry into the Andean Community of Nations at the twentieth meeting of the Andean Presidential Council in Bogotá in 2020, making it the first Arab and African country to obtain observer state status. 

In the same vein, the opening of the Moroccan Space at the headquarters of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) in Panama last February was just another milestone in these regional rapprochements. This was only reinforced by the appointment of Rabat as the 'capital of South-South cooperation' in March 2022, after Parlatino approved the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary Dialogue Forum of Senates and Similar Councils of Africa, the Arab World, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the League of Arab States accepted this appointment. 

This Parliamentary Dialogue Forum of the Senates and Similar Councils of Africa, the Arab World, Latin America and the Caribbean represented a major diplomatic and international triumph for the Alaouite Kingdom, as it enabled it to be the sole host of an event that would symbolise convergence and cooperation in the face of the many challenges facing these territories. Beyond relations of sympathy and friendship.  In fact, at this forum, the President of the Moroccan Chamber of Councillors, Naama Mayara, stressed the need to promote coordination in legislative matters.

Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra