H.E. Dr. Lahcen Mahraoui:

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the members of the committee. I wish all a happy Africa Day. In my opening statement, I will shed light on Morocco-Ireland relations and will then present Morocco's action in Africa, including the pioneer South-South co-operation implemented by Morocco within Africa.

I will also give insights on Ireland-Africa relations and the need to unlock the significant potential that lies in such relations.

Next year, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our relations. In 1992, the Moroccan Embassy in Dublin was opened. In 2020, Morocco nominated its honorary consul in Ireland - an Irish citizen - who is making a highly valuable contribution to our relations. In 2021, Ambassador James McIntyre became the first Irish resident ambassador to Morocco to further deepen our relations. I thank him for closely working together with us to boost our relations. Before then and still now, we have in Morocco two honorary consuls of Ireland who are represented by two Moroccans in Casablanca and Agadir.

Regarding the Moroccan community in Ireland, it is relatively small with around 5,000 Moroccans working in different companies, Irish and multinational. They are building bridges between our two countries. The Moroccan student community, including researchers, has been reinforced by seven memorandums of understanding, MOUs, signed since 2017 between Moroccan and Irish universities. This people connection in academia and universities should be boosted even more through south-north mobility facilitation.

As for parliamentary diplomacy between Morocco and Ireland, exchange of visits in recent years has contributed to a better mutual understanding. This year, the Chair of this committee visited his counterpart in Morocco. In May 2018, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad visited Morocco and in January 2019, the Ceann Comhairle visited Morocco while in June 2019, the Speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives visited Ireland. The outcome of this last visit was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parliaments as well as the establishment of a Morocco-Ireland parliamentary friendship group. The convener of this group is Senator Paul Daly, who I thank for his valuable contribution towards our parliamentary diplomacy.

We are trying to strengthen trade and investment ties between our countries. Data from 2023 showed an increase of 21% in Irish exports to Morocco and the same on the other side. We should seek more co-operation opportunities in many expertise sectors such as renewable energies where Morocco is doing well, agriculture, agribusiness, dairy-livestock, outsourcing, pharmaceuticals and education to name a few. The ease of mobility of the Moroccan business community is key in this aspect. Morocco's immense potential for renewable energy calls for stronger collaboration. Pathways towards climate energy transition constitute a common global goal.

Morocco has a lot of potential to offer. It is a gateway to Africa. Morocco is stable and doing well in business. We have very good infrastructure. We are the nearest African country to Europe, at only 14 km from Spain. Morocco has diverse partners. There are free trade agreements between the EU and the Mediterranean Arab countries - the Agadir agreement - and also bilateral free trade agreements with the US, Türkiye, UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. Morocco is the only country in Africa which has such an agreement with the US.

With Ireland, on multilateral level, we should better co-ordinate our positions and exchange lessons and good practices on issues of common interest at the United Nations and European Union, noting the 1996 EU-Morocco association agreement and the advanced status granted to Morocco by the EU in 2008. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe granted the Moroccan Parliament partner for democracy status in 2011, making it the first parliament in the southern neighbourhood to be granted this status.

I will move on to the key role played by Morocco in Africa. The top priority of Moroccan foreign policy is Africa. Morocco's bilateral relations are ancestral, deep and strong with many African countries and are growing even more in multifaceted areas of mutual interest. Under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the south-south co-operation implemented by Morocco with other African countries has allowed us to implement since 1999 more than 1,000 agreements and tangible projects across Africa towards strengthening human and economic sustainable development in order to meet the needs of Africans in terms of food security, access to energy, banking, insurance, transportation, infrastructure, telecommunication, cultural ties, etc. Among giant projects are the creation of fertiliser production units in Ethiopia and Nigeria and launching the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline by the end of 2024. This is the continent's longest gas pipeline, which testifies to how regional integration could transform the landscape of Atlantic Africa. The 2023 Morocco’s initiative on the Atlantic makes it a geological space for economic integration, connectivity and human interaction, thus ending the economic isolation of Sahel countries. Morocco is connected to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea in the north and to the Americas via its Atlantic coast in the west.

Morocco is also playing a key role in Africa in terms of migration. Morocco used to be a transit country for illegal migrants seeking to travel to Europe but is now becoming a host country for immigrants. We launched a plan to integrate these migrants, giving them registration cards to allow them to become legal residents in Morocco and allowing them access to schools, universities, jobs and so on. The King of Morocco was appointed Africa leader for migration. This decision was partly based on the positive development of the 2014 national immigration and asylum seeker policy. In 2018, the King, as Africa leader for migration, submitted to the African Union, the African agenda on migration. One of the proposals of this agenda was the establishment of the African Migration Observatory, which was then inaugurated in 2020 in Rabat, Morocco. Its mission is to facilitate the implementation of the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration adopted in Marrakech, Morocco.

Triangular partnerships are key for Morocco. Ireland is invited to look at possibilities offered by tripartite partnerships between Ireland, Morocco and other African countries and to explore areas such as food security, agriculture adaptation, access to energy, renewable energy, economic growth, the sustainable development goals of the African Union agenda 2030.

In 2016, Morocco hosted COP22, which was a unique opportunity to prioritise the triple A initiative regarding adaptation of African agriculture to climate change while tackling African food security and addressing hunger in Africa. In 2016, Morocco hosted the first African action summit pooling efforts to design policies for the Sahel, the Congo basin and small islands in Africa, leading to the creation of a working climate committee for each of the three respective areas.

I will now share with the committee some insights about Ireland-Africa relations. I command Ireland's strategy for Africa to 2025 aimed at expanding Ireland’s diplomatic footprint on the continent of Africa, with the aim of deepening political, economic and cultural relations with African countries while contributing to sustainable development and expanding education and research links.

We need to see projects covering the wider Africa continent, not only the English-speaking African countries, in business and to enhance mutual investment and human connections. Exchange of lessons learned and expertise is key in this regard.

We all live in a complex rapidly changing world, connected yet disconnected on many levels. We face almost the same challenges arising from global momentum. We, as Africans, are aware of our resources, potential and role in driving positive changes. We believe in our continent, Africa, which the world labels with words such as "fragility", "poverty", "shortage of resources", "conflicts" and "debt crisis" - to name but a few. I kindly invite members to rethink Africa from the perspective of diversity and opportunities. We have a shared responsibility to engage in collective action built on trust, mutual understanding and a win-win spirit. Our common goal is to be able to deliver on the ground for our societies and youth, who are the leaders of tomorrow, in Africa and Europe. Africa’s immense potential on so many levels is yet to be fully unlocked through long-term co-operation where Africa is seen as a full partner rather than an aid recipient only.

I am conscious also of bilateral issues we could discuss but perhaps they do not concern the whole of Africa. I would be very happy to come back to the committee to discuss those issues.