Address of Speaker of the House of Representatives at Joint Meeting of the Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance and the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco

Honorable José Ramón Enríquez Herrera, member of the Mexican Senate and President pro tempore of the Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance,

Ladies and gentlemen, the esteemed Heads of delegations and members of the Parliamentary Committee from Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico,

Esteemed colleagues, members of the House of Representatives,

I am pleased to welcome you today to Rabat, the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. We are honored to host, at the seat of the House of Representatives, the second edition of the Joint Meeting with the Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance. The first meeting was held in 2020 via videoconference during the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing us from traveling outside our countries.

The accession of the House of Representatives as an observer member to the Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance was a remarkable milestone in our common relations, as the House of Representatives was the first Arab and African legislative institution to obtain this status.

Today, the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco has the honor of organizing for the first time on an Arab and African territory a joint meeting and an extraordinary session of your esteemed Committee, which will have an unprecedented impact from the capital Rabat.

This reflects our concern in the Kingdom of Morocco to join distinguished parliamentary initiatives that aim to ensure decent living conditions for people and support democratic practices and the values of coexistence and peace.

The Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance is a qualitative body in terms of objectives, as it ensures the monitoring of economic integration objectives in which the Governments of your countries have engaged. It also aims to provide parliamentary accompaniment, from your position as legislators, to the work done by the executive branch for the future of the people of your region.

Ladies and gentlemen,

South-South cooperation is currently one of the most important mechanisms for overcoming economic and social problems in our countries, especially since the Kingdom of Morocco, on the one hand, and the countries of Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia, on the other, have the necessary potential to ensure economic take-off, considering their young and active human capital, petroleum, renewable energy, and mineral resources, in addition to the important and diversified agricultural, fishing, and animal wealth they enclose.

I want to assure you that the Kingdom of Morocco shares the same values as you. Under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God glorify him, our country has made South-South cooperation a constant of Moroccan diplomacy and a lever of its foreign policy.

All of this is part of a comprehensive strategic vision based on the strengthening of security and stability and the achievement of economic development, which constantly pushes us to promote cooperation and inclusion within Africa to which we belong and to open up to Latin America with which we share a common historical heritage and identical aspirations for the future.

Moreover, Africa, the continent to which the Kingdom of Morocco belongs, includes several regional economic blocs, in addition to the launch of the largest free-trade zone in the world involving different African states. Such initiatives open up vast horizons of cooperation between Africa and the Pacific Alliance.

Thanks to its distinguished geographical position and diplomatic dynamism, the Kingdom of Morocco can bring the two parties closer together, given that it was the first Arab and African country to obtain the status of observer member within the Pacific Alliance in 2014.

In addition to the opportunities for joint trade and economic cooperation, we can establish communication channels to exchange experiences and expertise. For example, today, we will discuss the issue of migration, an area in which the Kingdom of Morocco has excelled at the regional and continental levels. We will also have the opportunity to learn about the experiences of Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia in this area.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I want to reaffirm once again our firm belief in the important role that we, as parliamentarians, can assume in carrying out the cooperation project between the Parliamentary Committee in Charge of Monitoring the Pacific Alliance and the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, given the roles of legislative institutions in the control, monitoring, and evaluation of governmental action in our countries, as well as the contribution that parliamentary diplomacy can make in terms of efforts to coordinate positions, develop mechanisms, and elaborate initiatives.

I also want to thank you for the statement issued by your esteemed Committee in December 2020, in which you expressed your support for the measures undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco to secure the Guergarat crossing. I also commend your continuous support for the efforts of the Kingdom of Morocco to find a solution to the issue around the Moroccan Sahara and for the autonomy plan as a realistic, serious, and credible solution to this issue.

We aspire, Mr. President, to continue the joint dialogue and consultation with your Parliamentary Committee, and to implement the institutional cooperation agreement that we have concluded, in order to achieve the good we all aspire for our peoples.

Thank you for listening.