The new President of the Andean Parliament, Cristina Reyes Hidalgo, praised, on August 26, Morocco’s positioning and the Kingdom’s role in strengthening South-South cooperation.
Intervening at a meeting with members of the national parliamentary section of the Andean Parliament on the sidelines of their participation in the August session of this regional grouping (August 24-26), Reyes Hidalgo expressed her great appreciation for Morocco and its solidarity initiatives, which promote the Kingdom as a link between Africa, the Arab world, and the Andean countries.
Reyes Hidalgo, who was accompanied by the Andean Parliament’s Secretary-General, Eduardo Chiliquinga Mazon, commended the participation of members of the Moroccan Parliament in the work of this session, which is an opportunity “to benefit from Morocco’s pioneering expertise, particularly in the field of alternative energies, water management, and the national strategy for the integration of immigrants.”
The new President of the Andean Parliament also highlighted the pioneering role that the Moroccan Parliament plays in strengthening relations with the Andean community, underlining that the visit by representatives of the two houses of the Moroccan Parliament should be used as an opportunity to explore Morocco’s pioneering experiences in several sectors, as well as the Kingdom’s achievements in women empowerment, migration management, agricultural policy, and renewable energies.
For their part, the members of the parliamentary delegation, which included parliamentarians Fatine El Ghali and advisor Abdelkader Salama from the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and Mohamed Touimi Benjelloun from the Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), affirmed the Moroccan parliament’s commitment to concretizing the remarkable course of bilateral relations into a roadmap with well-defined objectives and mechanisms.
The Moroccan parliamentary delegation also stressed that the Kingdom’s membership at the Andean Parliament is part of the reinforcement of Morocco’s strategic choice in terms of South-South cooperation, under the Leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
A statement from the Andean Parliament affirmed that the meeting between the Parliament’s new President and the Moroccan delegation was an opportunity for the Moroccan parliamentarians to congratulate Reyes Hidalgo, on behalf of the Speakers of the two houses of the Moroccan parliament, on her election as head of the Andean Parliament, and to reaffirm the solid relations linking the two legislative institutions.
The statement recalled that the Moroccan Parliament and the Andean Parliament signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in July 2018 at the Moroccan House of Councilors to establish channels of communication and parliamentary interaction, particularly through exchanges of visits, expertise, and information, adding that under this agreement, the Moroccan Parliament has obtained the status of advanced partner with this legislative institution.
The work of the August session of the Andean Parliament kicked off with the organization of an initial meeting of local authorities from the Andean region and featured several presentations by representatives of different countries in the region (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru) on subjects such as climate change, the funding of public policies, and investment in social policies.