At a meeting of the Plenary Sub-Committee of the Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union (AU) on multilateral cooperation, the Kingdom's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the AU and UNECA, Mohamed Arrouchi, stressed the importance of establishing the AU's strategic partnerships as factors in accelerating the implementation of the objectives of Agenda 2063, particularly in terms of socio-economic development.

The Moroccan diplomat stressed the need for both the Commission and the partners to adopt a firm and responsible stance in the face of the narrow and ill-intentioned political agendas of some who deliberately and permanently seek to hinder the smooth running of partnership processes and turn them into platforms for pointless political polemics.

In this respect, Arrouchi deplored the fact that these actions, fraudulent maneuvers and intrusions by the puppet entity not recognized by the partners in partnership meetings, in complicity with certain members of the Union, bearers of restricted agendas, continues to damage considerably the image of Africa and the credibility of its partnership processes.

The diplomat also called on African countries to put the supreme interest of Africa and its citizens at the top of the agenda in the context of the African Union's strategic partnerships, while focusing on multiplying the dividends drawn by Africa from these processes.

Arrouchi stressed that activating the operational dimension of the African Union's partnerships is a necessity today, given the challenges facing the African continent, but also the opportunities and promising prospects generated by the interest shown by international partners and stakeholders in Africa.