King Mohammed stresses Africa's prosperity depends on citizens and human resources upgrading
Morocco-Regional, Politics, 4/29/2003

Morocco's King Mohammed VI stressed here on Monday that "Africans, their leaders and elite, are all aware that they share a common destiny. They know that their prosperity depends on how much we care about the African citizen and about the upgrading of the human resources that this continent boasts."

In a message to participants in an international fund-raising conference for the African Virtual Conference that opened this Monday in Marrakesh, the sovereign stressed that Africa's prosperity "is also subject to our ability to empower African men and women to meet the challenges of sustainable development and to make up for falling behind at the time of the industrial revolution." Likewise, says the sovereign in a message read out by Prince Moulay Rachid, African development is also tied to wide participation in the digital revolution which is under way. "They will, thus, be in a position to build a real project for a new society, using the tools of education, knowledge, communication and exchange, and relying on democracy openness and the citizen's participation in public life. The aim is to bring about the emergence of a citizen who is skilled and whose dignity is preserved," the king went on.

Turning to Morocco's experience in education and efforts to foster the participatory process, the King's message stressed "we have resolved to make the reform of the education and training system a top priority in our public policies. This process is already under way as part of the ten-year National charter. It stems from a comprehensive and integrated vision revolving around objective and realistic targets." "Our support for the African virtual university is motivated by the rationale behind this national strategy. It stems from Morocco's determined commitment to backing what is regarded as one of the strongest pillars of the NEPAD Initiative, namely the overhaul of education and training systems in African countries," the king stressed. (

The sovereign also expressed firm belief that state-of-the art technological tools will enable the pioneering project for an African university to yield dramatic changes in the difficult cost-efficiency equation in the field of education. "This is indeed a major challenge for all education and scientific research reform projects in our countries," he insisted. "It is an ambitious project in which we believe very strongly, especially as it provides valuable opportunities for communication and interaction between African countries, and gives them a chance to disseminate information about their scientists' know-how and potentialities, and to share their experience with each other. As experts and specialists, they will be competing with each other, trying to train and upgrade young Africans who are yearning for knowledge and know-how." "The project, he went on, will enable young people to keep abreast of the current developments in science, to meet the challenges ahead and to get fully involved in the process of sustainable development." "Moreover, by supporting this institution, we will actually have contributed to the success of a major African project in terms of culture and civilization. The aim is to make the widest possible use of the opportunities arising from the new Information and Communication Technologies, to make universal knowledge available to and useful for our young generations. To achieve this objective, we need to build a partnership in conjunction with our efficient and productive effort of cooperation which create an environment conducive to sustainable development. The kind of development being sought takes into account the specific characteristics of our countries and the cultural identity of our peoples. It has a potential to consolidate human rights as a universal notion," the royal message stresses.

Morocco will continue to be at the forefront of advocates who support such African projects within South-South cooperation, the king vowed.

Previous Stories:
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