Morocco, as president of G-77 Countries, expresses resolve to group interests
Regional-Morocco, Politics, 9/21/2002

Morocco on Thursday expressed resolve to protect the interests of the Group of 77 plus China. Morocco "will pursue the praiseworthy actions led by its predecessors on the way of protecting the interests of the Group facing the challenges of globalization," Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa, said in a speech at the 26th ministerial meeting of the G-77 and China.

Morocco was unanimously elected President of the G-77 for the year 2003.

Benaissa underlined that Morocco "will spare no effort during its mandate (É) to overcome political cleavages and to lay the basis of a common position regarding international economic questions."

"These questions, he said, related in particular to the follow-up and the implementation in the direction of safeguarding our interests, of the conclusions and the recommendations resulting from the recent conferences of Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg as well as the World Food Summit."

The Moroccan official noted that the G-77 countries will continue to stress the urgent need for the whole international community to establish just and equitable multilateral commercial rules through the enhancement of the principles and modalities of a special and differentiated treatment on the one hand and a privileged access to the markets for the goods and services of export interest to developing countries on the other.

He equally stressed the need to pool efforts to apply the recommendations of Monterrey particularly those pertaining to the mobilization of international financial resources, assistance to development and foreign debt.

"Now that the Monterrey consensus stressed the crucial importance of development financing to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development, our Group will continue to remind the international community of the unfavorable conditions from which suffer several developing nations, especially in Africa," Benaissa said.

He deplored, in this connection, the deficit of Africa in terms of basic infrastructures and its dependence on a limited number of basic commodities accentuate its weakness and its vulnerability with respect to the unforeseen changes in the national and international arena.

The official called on the international community to double the volume of the official development assistance so as to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the millennium.

He further deplored that extreme poverty, malnutrition and even food shortages and famine return almost regularly to the front of the international media to show up the gravity of the problems from which many populations of the south suffer. He underlined, in this connection, the moral duty which lies with the international community to act with determination and celerity to provide the necessary food, financial and technological assistance to the affected countries in order to eradicate these phenomena.

Benaissa noted that the G-77 group of countries is called on to act positively within the United Nations system, and especially the FAO to ensure an efficient and effective follow-up to the plan of action adopted by the World Food Summit to reach the objectives relating to the reduction of poverty and of hungry persons or those living in food insecurity and the curbing of forests destruction.

He underlined the importance of solidarity between the North and the South, rich and poor sustained by a direct and resolute implication of all the components of the international community in partnership business actors, civil society and local populations, is the basic ground to accomplish the commitments contained the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and other international legal instruments relating to the environment.

Benaissa called for a new form of North-South partnership for a development based on mutual respect and co-responsibility.

"In this framework, we consider it very useful to work for closer relations between our Group and the G-8 in order to sensitize the industrial countries to our concerns and difficulties which may delay or even hinder the integration of our countries to the world economy and to the global process and development," he said.

The Moroccan minister said Morocco will present, during the takeover ceremony of the Presidency of the G-77 next January, to the Group members its vision of the priorities that the Group should pursue in 2003.

He asserted that the consolidation of the Group's institutional capacities, the program of action for the least developed countries and the NEPAD, the South-South cooperation and the follow-up of the recommendations of the Havana summit will be among the areas where it would be advisable to strengthen the experiences and to go beyond.

Touching on the NEPAD, Benaissa termed the initiative as well intentioned and ambitious effort to put African societies on the path of sustainable growth and development.

"This new strategy which aims to help the African countries to shape their own future regarding development, will certainly allow the African continent to lay the foundations of a positive, useful and efficient partnership with the developed world since it identifies clear objectives and means to achieve them."

Previous Stories:
  Morocco at the vanguard of Arab states democratization, US academics   (9/17/2002)
  IFC to open in Rabat program for north African enterprise development   (9/13/2002)
  Morocco's Khalid Naciri maintained head of Arab Human Rights Commission   (9/10/2002)
  Arab League reaffirms support to Morocco on Tourah islet case   (9/6/2002)
  King Mohammed at World Summit urge canceling debt, not wasting resources   (9/3/2002)
  Morocco readies to host second summit of Mano River countries   (7/20/2002)
  South African paper says Morocco should be one of the AU and NEPAD leaders   (7/9/2002)
  Morocco: Arab financial markets cooperation to exploit local resources for investment   (5/18/2002)
  Casablanca hosts third Africa-USA ministerial conference on energy   (5/16/2002)
  Rabat hosts sub-regional forum on women and micro-finance   (4/18/2002)
  Democracy, best means to eradicate terrorism, extremism, King mohammed says   (3/18/2002)
  King Mohammed calls for making Cen-Sad an appropriate Environment   (3/8/2002)
  Inter-parliamentary union holds meeting in marrakesh in march   (2/27/2002)
  Moroccan premier urges for fair rules of multilateral trade   (6/27/2000)
  Seminar on rural development in Mediterranean opens in Marrakech   (4/11/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search