By: Sonja Smith

The Moroccan Speaker of the House of Councillors, Enaam Mayara, says the Kingdom of Morocco is working on investing with many African countries, in order to enhance continental food security for its citizens.

Mayata, was speaking as a guest at the official opening of the second ordinary session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), following the invitation from Chief Fortune Charumbira.

He said the enhancement of food security will be made by building advanced agricultural strategies to strengthen food sovereignty, enhance the ability to compete in international agriculture and get access to new markets.

“My country is also working, through the Chérifien Office of Phosphates, to develop an advanced continental value chain that will enable Africa, within years, to have fair and equitable access to sufficient quantities of fertilisers,” Mayara said.

He said his country has adopted a clear vision to implement projects that will change the agricultural appearance of the continent and enhance its food security.

Mayata explained that the most prominent project is the work to establish an industrial platform for the production of fertilisers in Ethiopia at a cost of US$ 3.7 billion with a production capacity of about 2.5 million tonnes annually of fertilisers destined for the local and export markets.

In addition a factory in Ghana will be opened which will be dedicated to the manufacture of fertilisers, and a second factory in Nigeria, which will be dedicated to the manufacture of ammonia used in agricultural fertilisation.

The Second Ordinary Session of the Sixth Parliament follows a successful Sitting of Permanent Committees of the PAP held in March 2023.

In this regard, several reports, stemming from the work of Committees, will be considered and adopted during the May Session.

Mayara said the session was taking place in a special global context, mainly characterised by the continuing negative consequences of international geopolitical crises.

“We are all called upon, based on our main role as representatives of the people in our countries, to build a continental parliamentary agenda capable of facing all challenges and accelerating the emergence of a continental model to ensure common development and achieve the aspirations of our nations for well-being, progress and prosperity,” He said.

Mayara said the organisation of the current parliament session by the African Parliament under the title of “Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)”, has come in perfect harmony with the theme of the African Union for the year 2023.

Thus, it will make the current session a “working session” and a main station for contributing to the success of the great continental economic process that aims to establish the largest free trade area in the world.

The continental market is made up of about 1.3 billion people and a combined domestic product of about US$3.4 trillion.

He said it will enable the acceleration of the dynamics of common development; allow the creation of continental added value, and build a strong and competitive African economic system which is the main entrance towards new horizons, practices and mechanisms in the field of solidarity.

Mayara added that the processes of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” are at the heart of the Kingdom of Morocco’s interests, given their importance in changing the continental development model.

He explained that the continent needs to become more productive and create opportunities for all- the continental project will enable the creation of a large number of job opportunities for the benefit of young people and save 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty.

It is also estimated to improve the income of 68 million people, while increasing continental wealth by 450 billion dollars.

“This enabled the increase in the total value of Morocco’s bilateral trade with African countries by 9.5 percent as an annual average, in parallel with the strengthening of Moroccan investments in Africa.

The country’s investment in Africa consists mainly of direct investments in sub-Saharan Africa, which made the kingdom of Morocco the first African investor in the African continent.”