Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Mr. Nasser Bourita, on Friday November 4, 2020, called on the international community to show solidarity in supporting national recovery strategies, in particular those of African countries, on the occasion of Special Session of the UN General Assembly in Response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic.
“The urgency to save lives is still there, but it is now combined with a necessary economic recovery,” said Mr. Bourita in a pre-recorded video message.
“More than ever, the international community is called upon to show solidarity in supporting national recovery strategies, particularly those of African countries,” the minister pointed out, noting that “the challenge of recovery that confronts us is unprecedented.”
For Mr. Bourita, it is no longer a question of applying “old recipes”, but of developing innovative approaches based on the lessons learned from the pandemic. “Resilience must be sustainable,” he noted in this regard.
“It would benefit from relying on a renewed multilateral order that is in tune with the times. What we really need is a multilateralism of responsibility which can nourish the actions of the United Nations through concrete initiatives oriented towards the results because it is indeed a systemic event “, he said.
Referring to the situation on the African continent, Mr. Bourita said Africa is paying a heavy price for the pandemic. “Yet its recovery remains threatened by even greater difficulties than in other continents.”
The adoption of a common G20 framework for the restructuring of African public debt is a good step in the right direction, he said, noting however that a more ambitious and comprehensive approach is more than ever necessary to avoid not compromise the considerable efforts made by African countries.
Regarding Morocco’s efforts in the fight against the pandemic, the minister noted that the Kingdom, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has acted with diligence and responsibility to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“The Royal approach was based on anticipation, solidarity, prevention, the mobilization of all internal resources, the search for innovative partnerships, and the primacy of the health security of citizens, especially the most vulnerable ones”, said Mr. Bourita.
And to recall in this regard that following the High Royal Instructions, a social fund for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic has been set up to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable social categories, adding that a massive surge of national solidarity has made it possible to endow it with more than 3.5 billion dollars.
The Minister also indicated that upon the High Royal Instructions, Morocco will carry out in the coming weeks a generalized vaccination campaign which will give priority to the most vulnerable.
Morocco’s national efforts did not prevent it from showing solidarity with its brotherly and friendly countries, he recalled, stressing that at the height of the pandemic, His Majesty the King insisted on sending medical aid to twenty sister African countries in support of their national efforts against Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 1.3 million lives, infected more than 54 million people, and upended the livelihoods of even more all over the world. It could result in the worst global recession since the Great Depression. The pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities and exacerbated inequalities within and between developing and developed countries, hitting the poorest and most vulnerable people particularly hard. With entire continents experiencing a resurgence in cases, living with and managing the impact and consequences of COVID-19 is the new global reality that no one can escape.