Morocco hosts Afro-Atlantic meeting to explore opportunities, face challenges

Rabat - Morocco is organizing a conference of Foreign ministers from African nations lapped by the Atlantic Ocean with the aim of exploring opportunities and facing common challenges.

The north African country's government hopes this first-ever meeting, which gathers 15 countries, would help reinforce dialogue and elaborate common strategies vis-à-vis complex economic, environmental and security challenges.

Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri said at the opening late Monday, the meeting will allow for sharing experiences and views on cooperation and co-development as the countries taking part "share the same specificities (…) and face common threats, including organized crime networks, piracy and drug-trafficking."

"Of course there are risks to take, but there are also economic opportunities that we need to take advantage of," Fassi Fihri said.

The meeting is held in a bid to make of this region "a space of stability and shared prosperity," he said. It's importance is dictated by the present international juncture, which necessitates dialogue with other European and American countries, he noted.

This conference mirrors Morocco’s interest to develop relations with the countries of the continent, the FM told MAP. It is part of the “cooperation efforts and the dynamic witnessed in African-Moroccan cooperation in the last few years,” he added.

The countries partaking in the two-day meeting are Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea , Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao-Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Congo, Mauritania, Nigeria and Gabon.