Address of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, at Reception of the Participants in the 16th Children of Peace World Festival
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Peace and Prayer Upon the Messenger of Allah and his honorable kith and kin
My dear sons and daughters participating in the Children of Peace World Festival,
Esteemed attendees,
I am pleased to welcome you, once again, to the Seat of the House of Representatives at the Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat, the land of peace, love, and fraternity.
This Festival is an annual tradition that renews hope and trust in the values, horizons, and reasons for peace.
Hence, I am pleased to praise the consistent keenness of the Bouregreg Association of Sale to organize and host the Children of Peace World Festival, which has reached its 16th edition this year and receives children from 25 countries around the world. This edition coincides with the Moroccan people’s celebrations of the Glorious Throne Day that converge with the Silver Anniversary of the Accession of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah protect him, to the Throne of his glorious ancestors 25 years ago.
I was informed that the participating children came to the Kingdom of Morocco from several countries, continents, and human languages and cultures and that the guest of honor of this edition is the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, a revered sister country to whose living people and wise national leadership we hold high esteem.
I was also informed that the Festival features a rich and diverse work program that includes educational, cultural, and art activities, and that you granted peculiar attention during this edition to highlight the value of tradition in Morocco and the other brotherly and friendly countries.
The organization of this Festival under the Honorary Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem grants this edition an added value with all the symbolism, presence, radiance, and efficiency that entails, mainly as you target the reinforcement of the spirit of coexistence, dialogue, and understanding, and the exchange of civilizational and cultural virtues as foundations for the culture of peace as a fundamentally human culture.
As you may know, or as you, and we, should all know, peace is, first and foremost, an inner state that humans live within themselves and with themselves before sharing it with their fellow humans in the neighborhood, the city, the town, the country, and the world. Peace should be an individual cultural and educational state before and after being a set of procedures, measures, plans, patterns, values, principles, laws, conventions, and treaties. In this respect, the saying goes: “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
Peace is education, a culture, and an ethical and human commitment above all.
Peace is the product of legislation just as much as it is the product of rational thoughts and tolerant intellectual, philosophical, and art expressions. Peace is also the fruit of economic, social, and cultural development projects and requires constant mobilization to defend its values. Children and new generations are at the forefront of the categories concerned with preserving peace, and they must be upbrought to the spirit, culture, and requirements of peace and according to an educational and cultural work methodology that includes school learnings and art, sports, and creative activities like this successful world festival the Bouregreg Association has been organizing annually in several spaces in Sale and Rabat.
I welcome you again to the land of peace and thank you for your keen listening.