South-South Co-operation a Priority for Moroccan Embassy

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]eeks after presenting his Letters of Credence to Saint Lucia’s Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy at an official ceremony, Aberrahim Kadmiri, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to English-speaking islands in the Caribbean including Saint Lucia, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Trinidad & Tobago met with media here in Saint Lucia. The informal meeting got underway on January 10th, just one day before the observance of the 73rd anniversary of Morocco’s presentation of the manifesto of independence.

Speaking to invited guests, the ambassador expressed that he was pleased with the manner in which he had been welcomed to Saint Lucia, the island in which he will reside for the duration of his tenure.

“I have been here for one month now, exactly 32 days today,” he said. “Within this short period I got the opportunity to present my credentials to three countries, something excellent for an ambassador . . . I did it first of course here in Saint Lucia, the country of my residence. I got the privilege to be received by the Honourable Governor General, and of course on that day, according to diplomatic practices, I got the opportunity to meet also with the Honourable Prime Minister.”

Where diplomatic introductions are concerned, the ambassador has thus far visited two other islands and their territories, namely Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda. He was expected to visit a fourth country, St Kitts & Nevis, yesterday for official proceedings.

At this week’s occasion the ambassador shared historical facts of his own country that dated back to the establishment of the first Moroccan state in 789. Morocco was subsequently ruled by many dynasties until the mid-seventeenth century, with the Alaouite dynasty. Morocco gained independence from Spain and France in March 1956.

The conversation at Tuesday’s meet-and-greet touched on Morocco’s struggle for independence and in the midst of an unexpected history lesson, the ambassador shared some of his own. He has worked as a diplomat for the last three decades and in his last post served as the Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Co-operation. In the words of the new ambassador: ”I have been handling all what is related to international co-operation so I did know the region, and of course the Caribbean region; Morocco is well involved here. We have a plan of co-operation: we believe in what is called South-South co-operation, and we do our best, of course, to try to exchange expertise and experience with our friends from the Caribbean region.”

The Kingdom of Morocco, by way of its embassy in Saint Lucia, has been providing assistance to the island for a number of years in various aspects, key among those: agriculture and education. Its efforts include the exchange of expertise and grants to various sectors, specifically fertilizer grants to Saint Lucia and other islands across the Caribbean. Assistance has also come in the form of scholarships for students.

“Our objective is that we can help to expand . . . to make demonstrations of knowledge in different fields like tourism, health, agriculture,” the ambassador explained. “My hope is that within the coming months we will succeed from both sides to consolidate our co-operation and our ties, so that the co-operation that is focused now on three or four fields can be extended to other very important fields.”