Monday, April 18, 2011
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Diplomacy&Diaspora
1HISDAY, Vol. 16, No 5838, Page 73
can Assist Nigeria's .Agri<:"U~~~~I
Sector', --.~MoreceanForelgnM1nlster .-~
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rat is Ihe currelll stale of bilaleral relatiOIlS betweell Ihe Killgdom ofMorocco alld Nigeria? One of the major features of the bilateral relations between Nigeria and Morocco is divergence of a number of issues on international provisional nature, which have been a'nd remain important. My visit is to strengthen relations between Nigeria and Morocco and also to explore the huge potentials both countries have to offer each other. Morocco is a leading country in the South-south cooperation and is concerned abo ut the African continent in term of population growth and economic development. Morocco has a huge capacity with technical know-how in sectors like agriCUlture, tourism, fisheries, and others. Whal impressioll came to your milld 011 certaill issues bilateral relatiolls whell you mel with your Nigeriall coullierparts? We di scussed with our' Nigerian counterparts on a number of issues among which was entrepreneurship. Actually, we have not done much and I do not want to say geographical distance is being responsible , because we have been working with other African countries. Let me say that we have reached certain maturity in some certain issues . I was happy to discover that we share the same vision for development and although, we lack the framework to actualise our common views, we
have agreed on number of issues. Basically, there are some sectors in which Morocco holds the leadership, like the agricultural sector. . We have helped Djibouti's agricultural sector and have caused artificial rain to fall in Senegal. We want to exchange our expertise, experience and know-how with good practices , and possibly through this framework, we will have the chance to exchange ideas in the tourism sector. In Morocco , we have the blue plan and Asian plan. Morocco has gone into growing wheat. But we had a challenge of drought which affected our economy. Again , agriculture is at 15% and 20%. There are sectors we can work with Nigeria, such as the agricultural, financia l' and tourism sectors. Do you lhillk Nigeria call make impact ill Morocco's ecollomy per-
Mr. Mohammed Ouzzine is the Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation for the Kingdom of Morocco. He spoke with a couple of journalists on the need for improved bilateral relations between Morocco and Nigeria. Damilola Oyedele was there ...
is a huge potential and I am reached . . . ".:.' i~g them to keep' aside. Olle if the looplmles·'iw. · The .real problem ' is this, sure we can explore it. What is Ihe volume of the relatiolls ,betweell' our the :Western Sahara people trade between Nigeria alld two llaljo,llS , are " .ihal . ·. are pressing for developNigeria recogn.ises Wesler/! ment . We try to see that Morocco? Not that much. It is not up : SaIUlr{l' as 'alL jlldepende/Jf · dev.elopment .reaches them. The i~~ueof human rights; to expectation; we are seri- elliiiy... · . . ' ...,. ously looking at it. Actually, . 'l:'Iigc:riirisamo!ig't)1~ few many think Morocco . is there were agreements . .cQuntries 'which;. re.cognj~e·' being mischjevous. This 'is a reached before now, but ,tlre.West~rn. ~{lh~;Buqhis·: ·. place ' wtte~ people are not is 'what we'fefer'tO' as trYing . allowed to go to schools; they were not implemented. Is allythillg being dOlle to for victory and trying for women who get pregnant relax .some trade policies wisdom . That is one of the out of wedlock are jailed. In betweell Ihe two countries reasons why I am in fact it is a country that is for stronger bilaleral rela- Nigeria, as our neighbours, burning . This is what we to let them know the true want our African brothers to tiOIlS? In our meeting , we tried version of the issue. Today, know the situation. The African Union idea ' we are trying to make them to set up a legal framework we are working on to make understand that we are not did not work, Morocco here to ask the Nigerian withdrew from the AU since it work out. Were there bilateral government to support us. 1984. because of the agreemellis reached ill We are asking them to con- Western Sahara. Morocco your deliberaiiolls wilh sider the national and inter- has not violated the rights of your Nigeriall cowller- national legitimacy because Westem Saharans . They parts? this is a situation that will demanded to be recognised Yes . There were some help the Nigerian govern· as a state when they do not bilateral agreements ment to avoid any kind of yet possess the qual ities of a embarrassment, we are ask· state , and the AU granted
Today, we are tryi1}g~to make them understand that 3£c!:,-qre not here to ask the Nigerian gO'ljelJiment to support us. We are ask~#gJhem . to consider the .',- national andjnternationallegitimacy b~caus~ th~s ~~.~·' ~!~~~~O~ ;,t hat w~ll help haps in tlze petroleum sect~e Nlgena't~o:R,~T.f1frr't~o avold ~ny tor? Why not? This is an area ktnd of emba,!~~$?1!ctJ:~;, tfe are asktng we need to explore too , since Nigeria is the sixth largest exporter of oil in the them 7d'·ke£12~ciSide world and first in Africa . It -t
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.'t llat;· and there were pres'Sures from Western Sahara .'that we withdraw ollr memo bership. But in spite of not being in the AU , ow voice is heard inAfri.ca. . f , ' .' Your voice:is.in Ajricq: I walll you 10' :cOIlI/nellt :011 what is .luippenillg · ;11 North Ajrica? . ' . . Not all North African countries are having the conflict. It started from Tunisia, which is referred to as the Tunisia domino effect. From Tunisia to Egypt and then to Libya, including some countries in the Middle East, people making legitimate demands to improve their living standards. Look at the long stay of SOme leaders, like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Gaddafi of Libya. Morocco considers the people, and I can I assure you that a new generation of institutional , political , economical and social change have been launched . We have the
multi-party system. What is taking place in our country is that of legitimate , demands, and it is given pri· ority. Morocco has lost political pace since 2004 and 2005. Today we may go beyond people's expectations; we have a new vision for the people of Morocco. Does il mean that the entire Arab world has been Iackillg behind ill lenlls of democracy? Democracy in the Arab world has not met the expectation of the people. In handling of the Libyan issue. the West seems to undermine the African Union ... From the Morocco per· spective. the Magreb Union is affected by the conflict in North Africa. as the AU is being undermined , it makes us not to be in the capacity to have tllis invasion con, trolled. Thank you very much .
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