On Tuesday the citizens of the Kingdom of Morocco celebrated the twentieth anniversary of King Mohammed VI’s ascension to the throne, not only in the North African country, but also here in Saint Lucia where Ambassador Abderrahim Kadmiri marked the occasion with a dinner at Coco Palm Resort. In attendance were Governor General Sir Neville Cenac, acting Prime Minister Guy Joseph and External Affairs Minister Sarah Flood-Beaubrun. Said the ambassador: “It is my privilege and honour to represent the people of my country in this wonderful region of the world.” He described the evening’s event as a great opportunity to commemorate the 20th anniversary of King Mohammed VI’s ascension. He also spoke about the diplomatic achievements of Morocco in the Caribbean region and the third year of his tenure as ambassador.
“Today is Morocco’s most significant national event of the year,” he said. “It is an opportunity for the citizens of the Kingdom of Morocco to reaffirm loyalty to His Majesty the King.”
Ambassador Kadmiri described the political reforms by King Mohammed VI as “enormous”, in particular the adoption of a new constitution in 2011 which he says has strengthened human rights in the country. “Since the ascension of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI to the throne of His glorious ancestors, on July 30, 1999, Morocco has carried out various political, social and economic projects, that benefitted millions of Moroccans.”
In addition to becoming more eco-friendly, Morocco has also strengthened ties to fellow African nations, returning to the African Union on January 13, 2017. “We all recall His Majesty Mohammed VI’s address to his African counterpart leaders at the African Union Summit at Addis Ababa, when he said ‘Africa is my home and I’m coming back home.’ ” Kadmiri said.
Reaffirming Morocco’s ties with Saint Lucia and other Caribbean nations, Khadmiri declared: “We are clearly committed to enhance more and more our relations and cooperation with Saint Lucia, as well as with the nine other countries that our embassy based in Castries is covering.” He recalled the opening of the OECS Embassy in Rabat in October, as well as the two-week International Training Session in Diplomacy, of fifteen Caribbean diplomats, hosted by the Moroccan Academy for Diplomatic Affairs (AMED) in November last year.
He promised that “in the same spirit, from next September all the programmes of cooperation will take a new dimension, updating the exchange of visits of our experts in the fields of health-care, agriculture, education, tourism and diplomacy, as well as the organisation of vocational training in Morocco. In this regard I’m so pleased to announce that from the beginning of next October, all the fertilizer shipments will reach the Caribbean destination. Saint Lucia, of course, will be the first recipient of this commodity benefitting local farmers.”
The ambassador closed with the assurance that he is “still fully enjoying the fruitful and successful years of my assignment as Ambassador of Morocco to this beautiful land and I want to take the occasion to thank all my Caribbean friends who are contributing to my journey. I won’t forget it.”
