Rabat, June 20 (BNA) His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, said that Africa needs the contribution of a real African investment industry that can ensure massive and sustainable mobilization of capital and ensure effective integration in financial markets.
In a message addressed on Monday to the participants in the launch conference of the African Sovereign Investors Forum held in Rabat, His Majesty King Mohammed VI said that sovereign wealth and strategic investment funds are strong indicators of opportunities and an incentive to achieve a better allocation of capital to sectors that create economic value and have a significant social impact, according to the statement. What was reported by the Moroccan News Agency.
His Majesty stressed that, “However, it is quite clear that until now, despite the efforts made on the continent with regard to the reforms introduced by several countries, access to capital remains limited and is mainly dominated by financing from development agencies and banks.” , indicating that the time has come for Africa to assert itself, take its fate into its own hands, and occupy its rightful place on the world stage.
To do so, “the mission of the sovereign and strategic funds they represent is to act as a wise and patient investor, ensuring the linkage between long-term national priorities and private investors, within the framework of a partnership-based approach geared towards sustainable development,” His Majesty said in this message, which was read out by the Delegate Minister. The Minister of Economy and Finance in charge of the budget, Fawzi Lekjaa.
His Majesty King Mohammed VI added that this is crucial when it comes to ensuring Africa’s integration into the private international financial system, in particular by enhancing and strengthening skills to bring it up to the best international standards. This would make Africa an attractive destination for investors and investments.
Recalling the Kingdom’s continuous efforts to serve the interests of the African continent and its economic development, His Majesty stressed that “choosing Africa is a choice that stems from the heart and the mind. It is a clear and proactive choice confirmed by my participation in many initiatives that enhance and enhance cooperation between African countries and economic development.”
His Majesty insisted that “our choice is to make investment a driving force for economic and social development, as well as for regional and continental integration in Africa,” highlighting the comprehensive partnership-based approaches in which Morocco has engaged in order to rise to the level of many current and future challenges.
In this regard, King Mohammed VI referred to the projects of establishing vaccine production units and establishing factories for the production of fertilizers, which aim to ensure the health of the continent and its food sovereignty, respectively, along with the works that have been undertaken to accelerate the financing wheel of the continent. In addition to projects aimed at strengthening energy sovereignty in Africa, such as the massive gas pipeline project between Nigeria and Morocco.
Given the multiplicity of major issues and challenges that the African country faces today, “we are called to do everything in our power to accelerate proactive and coordinated approaches to investment, in order to meet the legitimate aspirations of our peoples in a sustainable way,” stressed King Mohammed VI.
On this occasion, His Majesty the King congratulated “the organizers of the African sovereign and strategic funds meeting in Rabat today, for taking this commendable initiative. It will certainly promote the development and implementation of structuring projects with a strong integration impact on our continent. Therefore, I welcome and support this initiative.”
This initiative is “another indication of the determination of Africa’s driving forces to be the actors in the progress and development of the continent. In this, we see an illustration of the Africa we yearn for: an adventurous and daring Africa; Africa rises to the level of challenges and turns them into opportunities.”
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