Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates Nasser Bourita held a meeting in New York with his counterparts from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Chad to follow up on the implementation of King Mohammed VI's initiative to enable Atlantic Ocean access to Sahel countries.
This meeting, held Tuesday on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, brought together Foreign Ministers Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré of Burkina Faso, Abdoulaye Diop of Mali, Bakary Yaou Sangaré of Niger, and Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul of Chad, who emphasized the significance of the historic audience granted by the King to the Foreign Ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States on April 28, 2025.
This Royal audience offered an opportunity for the African ministers to reaffirm their countries’ full support for the Royal Initiative and their commitment to accelerating its implementation.
His Majesty King Mohammed VI announced this international initiative to facilitate access for the Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean in His speech delivered on November 6, 2023, marking the 48th anniversary of the Green March.
The African ministers praised the broad regional, continental, and international support for the Royal Initiative, and expressed their willingness to begin the gradual implementation of the proposed projects under this Initiative, building on the work carried out by Moroccan, Burkinabè, Malian, and Chadian task forces.
In this regard, national task forces will soon hold technical meetings aimed at implementing the proposed projects.
The meeting reflected a shared political will to jointly establish, with the Sahel countries, an integrated space for co-development, shared prosperity, and regional influence in the service of local populations.
During the meeting, the ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States presented the institutional and operational progress of the Alliance, which was founded as a coordination framework among its three member states ( Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger).
