Address of the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the Parliamentary Economic Forum of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean for the Euro-Mediterranean Region and Gulf

Address of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, at the Parliamentary Economic Forum of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean for the Euro-Mediterranean Region and Gulf 

Delivered on his behalf by the First Deputy Speaker of the House,

Hon. Mohamed Sabbari

Marrakesh on December 7-8, 2022

Honorable Head of Government,

Honorable Speaker of the House of Councilors,

Honorable President of the Parliament of the Mediterranean,

Honorable President of the Pan-African Parliament,

Honorable Speaker of the Zimbabwean Senate and President of the African Parliamentary Union,

Honorable President of the Arab Parliament,

Honorable Speaker of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates,

Honorable Speaker of the Shura Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

Honorable Presidents,

Your excellencies, the Heads of national and international organizations, each in his name and capacity,

First of all, I would like to welcome you to this tremendous high-level gathering organized by the House of Councilors of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Parliament of the Mediterranean, which constitutes a platform where parliamentarians, government officials, economic actors, leaders of regional and international economic organizations debate on issues of increasing importance and timeliness amidst regional and international contexts of whose vulnerability and challenges we are all aware.

I would also like to commend the choice of themes for this constitutive Forum, which are dialectically linked, and include the same concerns shared by the Arab Gulf and the Euro-Mediterranean Region.

These are chronic challenges that kept procreating, hence producing new challenges and spreading area-wise. Besides, they are indeed historical problems, given that a simple throwback to modern history would remind us that the Parliament of the Mediterranean, the successor of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, which the Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco contributed to establishing in 2005, was launched in 1992, as an IPU mechanism in Malaga, under the name "Congress of Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean," amidst a reigning concern back then to address and provide parliamentary responses to three significant challenges:

1)   Political and security cooperation to establish stability;

2)   Achieve economic cooperation through the advancement of mutual development and the creation of partnerships;

3)   Dialogue between civilizations and human rights.

Thirty years after the crystallization of this parliamentary thought, which culminated in an institutionalized regional parliamentary framework, we face the same challenges, nay more complex ones, and hard-to-end crises.

In this respect, the Mediterranean region, considering the backgrounds of its States, witnesses today destructive internal conflicts that push millions of people to migrate and request exile amidst all the human tragedies from which the people of the unstable countries suffer.

As we all know, the Mediterranean is one of the geographic zones that features large gaps in wealth and benefit from human development. It is also the region with an increasing number of weapons, where irregular migration flows have been causing tragedies, and where climate imbalances like drought, and the overexploitation of soil, water, and marine resources are most apparent.

Besides, the Mediterranean people pay the cost of border closure between several countries, which impacts investments and exchanges, and aggravates the impact of the increase in energy prices and production costs on achieving an economic revival as initially planned in several countries. In the meantime, the food security issue questions international policies in this area.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Your Forum is undoubtedly an opportunity and space to create the nucleus of a shared vision of security, peace, and joint development in the countries of the Arab Gulf and the Mediterranean region. It is also a doctrine and project supported by several factors, given the resources of both regions, as they have great potential to construct economic and technological complementarity, given the enormous energy resources the Gulf countries have exploited adequately to create major transformations in their economies, which is a source of pride, and as there is excellent potential to generate energy from renewable resources in the whole Gulf and the south and east of the Mediterranean.

We are also proud of what the Kingdom of Morocco has achieved under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah protect him, in this area, as he leads a tremendous agricultural renaissance that guarantees food to all Moroccans and increases the Kingdom's exports, and industrial development in several pioneering areas (the Kingdom produces 700,000 cars per year, meaning more than one car per minute).

In addition to the advanced technological skills and industries (particularly in Europe) and the infrastructure for aerial and maritime transportation, the two regions are strategically positioned between the North and the South and have access to large markets of a hundred million consumers in several areas of the world.

All this potential for complementarity requires political determination and bravery in the economic decision by the private sector. It also requires the elimination of prejudices about each other and respect for the context and peculiarities of each country and its civilizational and cultural background. Complementarity also requires sharing technologies and skills by the North with the South and Middle East, and solidarity in establishing infrastructure in one country, and transnationally.

Therefore, we must work and plead in the multilateral platforms to rid the region of the causes and impacts of wars, conflicts, and crises, because there is no development without collective stability, peace, and strong States. There is no stability without social stability and cohesion, without inclusion, and without the eradication of all types of vulnerability. We are surely all aware that the just aspirations are growing in an era of digitalization and advanced communication means.

I do not have to provide details on the exploitation by terrorist and extremist groups of the instability and conflicts to construct destructive means and discourses against the will of life, coexistence, security, stability, and serenity. We indeed agree, ladies and gentlemen, that the people of our region have had enough of wars and unresolved conflicts and aspire for further joint prosperous horizons.

We agree again that without respect for the sovereignty of States, their territorial integrity, and national security, there would never be a good climate for investments and economic, political, diplomatic, cultural, and symbolic exchanges. On another note, a part of the Euro-Mediterranean region falls within Africa, the continent with enormous prospects for development and evolution, which we must recall in all international policies.

Africa is the continent of the future and deserves economic and climate justice and civilizational, historical, and human reclamation. Therefore, Africa needs partnerships and investments and needs the world to know it better and to value its resources and potential for contribution to the construction of the future and enrichment of the world.

I want to seize this opportunity, where several leaders of economic organizations are among us today, to stress that it is unethical that the world enjoys the wealth generated by the evolution of industry, technologies, and international exchanges while Africa remains marginalized, despite it being the continent that provides the world with primary materials that are invaluable in several industries and technological transformations.

Although the birth of the World Trade Organization took place in 1994 in Marrakesh, the Kingdom of Morocco, during the Conference on GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which generated from a long series of negotiations to achieve global prosperity, the situation in Africa questions all the components of the reigning economic system. Therefore, the world owes Africa, and the Arab Gulf and Mediterranean region must work hand-in-hand with this continent.

Thank you for listening.