Press release
The Oriental region is acting towards an effective decentralized regional African cooperation.
Sunday, November 13   2016
Namaskar Palace – Marrakech – Morocco

The Kingdom of Morocco has been the host of the COP 22, with a strong determination to enable a global mobilization of decisions makers, the civil society and the economic power in the common objective to take action and to implement the necessary measures for the reduction of the threats our planet is facing.

Africa has a relatively small responsibility in global warming, but will nonetheless have to pay the price of its consequences. In regard to these challenges, all citizens of the African continent must answer the call and rally, to carry out mutual strategies and initiate a new dynamic of dialogue and collaboration leading to the taking of measures throughout the continent.

“The African policy of Morocco won’t be restricted to western and central Africa. We will make sure that is has a continental scope, and that is reaches all regions of Africa”. This was His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s vision, which he expressed on November 6th, 2016 from Dakar, in a seminal speech asking for a real South-South cooperation.

In this context and in perfect response to His Majesty’s statement, the “Oriental” Region of Morocco organized, with the support Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior, the CGLUA (United Cities and local Governments of Africa) and the ARM (Association of Moroccan Regions), the first encounter with several African regions and Chiefs of traditional authority of Africa, on Sunday 13th of November 2016 in the Marrakech Palace Namaskar.

The purpose of this encounter was to strengthen the sense of brotherhood and solidarity that unifies peoples of Africa through culture and history.  The Oriental Region of Morocco welcomed, amongst other honorable guests, Presidents of Regions and Chiefs of traditional authority of many African countries: Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Botswana and South Africa.

During the banquet, the different speakers put the emphasis on the need to create a framework for the reinforcement of the coordination and the partnership between African regions, in the context of a decentralized South-South cooperation. Thus the creation of the Association of Regions of Africa emerged as the best mean to materialize this partnership and to make the cooperation last in time.

As a follow-up to this major event, the President of the Oriental Region invited the audience to participate in the constitutive assembly of the A.R.A, in Oujda during the first trimester of 2017.

We must remember that the Oriental Region, through its strong historical heritage and its strong connection to the African continent, had initiate the project of the creation of the Association of Regions of Africa in 2014 in Oujda, during the second edition of the conference for decentralized cooperation of the Oriental Region.

Today more than ever, a new step has been taken in the relations between the Oriental region and African regions, which will lead to an active cooperation on the regional level; enabling peoples and regions of the continent to unite in a sustainable and strong win-win partnership.