The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, described Mauritania as an essential actor in the Royal Initiative to promote Sahel countries’ access to the Atlantic.
“His Majesty the King considers that Mauritania has its place and its importance within the framework of the Royal Initiative aimed at promoting access of the Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean,” stated Bourita at a joint press conference with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouk, on January 22 in Rabat.
Referring to the special nature of the visit made by Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouk on the instructions of Mauritanian President His Excellency Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani, Bourita stressed the importance of the relations linking the two countries, describing them as “particular and historic, dictated by geography, blood ties, and neighborliness”.
In this regard, the minister shed light on the particular importance that His Majesty the King attaches to Moroccan-Mauritanian relations as well as the interest shown by the Sovereign in their development on all levels, adding that the consolidation of bilateral relations has always been at the center of the High Royal Directions given the exceptional links uniting the two countries.
Bourita recalled, in this context, the last telephone conversation between His Majesty the King and the Mauritanian President, during which both parties reaffirmed the particularity of bilateral relations, as well as the high esteem that the Sovereign has for the President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani and his role both in favor of the stability and development of Mauritania and at the regional level.
In a similar context, the minister noted that the mechanisms of bilateral relations are functioning positively as evidenced by the holding in March 2022 of the Moroccan-Mauritanian High Joint Commission whose work was sanctioned by the signing of several conventions, highlighting the ambition of His Majesty the King to see Moroccan-Mauritanian relations take on their full scope.
The Moroccan official further indicated that the meeting with his Mauritanian counterpart, which focused on several regional issues, was an opportunity to reaffirm and welcome the positive dynamic of Mauritanian diplomacy under the leadership of the Mauritanian President, adding that Mauritania has become an essential actor in regional stability.
On a different note, the minister affirmed the importance attached to Mauritanian students in Morocco in terms of the number of scholarships granted, which confirms the sustainability of human ties between the two peoples.
At the economic level, Bourita highlighted the great development of bilateral relations, since Morocco is now considered Mauritania’s first commercial partner at the continental level, and the first African investor in Mauritania, underlining the ambition of His Majesty the King and the Mauritanian President to raise these relations to strategic levels, to make them an inspiring model of cooperation and an example to follow in terms of neighborly relations between two countries.
