"The Kingdom of Morocco wishes to reiterate its attachment and its engagement to contributing to ensuring the success of the AfCFTA, the basis of African economic integration and therefore a powerful lever for the development of the continent", the minister pointed out at the 21st extraordinary session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU), held by videoconference.

Mr. Jazouli recalled that, in a speech sent to the AU's Extraordinary Summit on the AfCFTA in 2018, HM King Mohammed VI underlined that "Morocco believes in a kind of co-development which is based on intra-African cooperation, economic complementarity, active solidarity and the pooling of resources and efforts". 

It is "essential" to complete the common vision of the AfCFTA, which consists of working on the basis of African complementarities to develop intra-African trade, to promote the employment of African labor, to industrialize Africa and to ensure a rise in the global value chains "made in Africa", Jazouli stressed at this ministerial meeting dedicated to the AfCFTA.

The Moroccan official underscored the importance "to continue our efforts and to capitalize on the progress that we have made so far, within the framework of the negotiations in this area".

"It is our concerted momentum, it is our common will that will establish the economic competitiveness needed for the emergence of Africa," he said.

This ministerial meeting is being held less than a month before the start of trade under the AfCFTA agreement on January 1, 2021.

Morocco signed, on March 21, 2018, in Kigali, the agreement to create the AfCFTA, which aims to facilitate integration between African markets.