Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, stated, Thursday in Rabat, that the African Diaspora represents an important economic contribution to the continent.
“During the 2010-2020 decade, the African Diaspora has transferred over 600 billion dollars, including 440 billion for sub-Saharan Africa and nearly 200 billion for the rest of the continent, and it is a significant economic contribution that far exceeds the levels of development,” stressed Bourita at the 5th meeting of the High Committee in charge of the agenda of the Decade of African roots and Diaspora.
Bourita noted that this diaspora is an important asset at both the economic and immaterial levels with 150 million Africans in the Diaspora, adding that the latest agreement on sustainable development recorded a progress of 6.2% for Africa compared to a total average of 8 to 9% internationally.
“The cost of transfers to Africa is unfairly high compared to other regions,” noted Bourita, explaining that for 200 dollars the African citizen pays over 8% while the global average is 6%.
The Foreign Minister added in this regard that “the objective defined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (target #10 of the SDGs) is 3%, and we are still far from the multilateral target defined in the framework of the United Nations (UN),” noting that it is a “burden for our Diaspora, their families, and country.”
The Moroccan official added that the Rabat Forum was therefore held as “an opportunity to discuss this issue, by building on existing initiatives and exploring new ways to reach concrete solutions.”
In a similar context, Bourita praised the leadership of the Togolese Republic, reiterating the Kingdom’s firm support for the fulfillment of the Togolese mandate at the head of this High Committee.
The Moroccan minister recalled that the latest African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa was an important event since the Heads of State and Government supported the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, in the work he accomplished and the report he presented.
Bourita further reiterated Morocco’s support for the Togolese organization of the event “Renewal of Pan-Africanism and Africa’s place in global governance: mobilizing resources and reinventing ourselves for action” in 2024, noting that this meeting “will further coordinate our actions and optimize our interaction with the African Diaspora”.
Bourita also praised the success of the Rabat Forum which “was distinguished by both the quantitative and qualitative participation,” and was attended by a large ministerial presence, including the Senegalese presidency of the African Union (AU).
The Foreign Minister noted that the Rabat Forum is part of “a context of co-ownership of the work of this Committee,” adding that through the organization of this Forum, the Kingdom also aimed to demonstrate that “all African countries and all delegations should take ownership of this work, get involved and take initiatives to ensure its success.”
In addition, Bourita said that emphasis was placed on the regional economic communities (RECs), stressing that all communities were present to contribute to this regional perspective and take ownership of these regional economic communities (RECs), the discussions, and the conclusions of the Rabat Forum.
Towards the end of this meeting, Bourita noted that the Rabat Declaration had identified a number of comments and called for promoting the bi-banking of different generations of African migrants while ensuring that tax information exchange standards do not impede remittances.
The Moroccan official added that Rabat Declaration also called for the promotion of a legal and fiscal environment encouraging the diversification of channels and the elimination of exclusivities, to encourage the digitization of financial services, technologies, and innovative business models, which can reduce the costs of transfers, and to conduct a major action towards the European Union (EU) to ease the conditions for the intermediation activity of African banks in Europe.
