As part of the Throne Day celebrations, a high-level seminar on Atlantic value chains was held Monday at the Residence of the Moroccan Ambassador in Dakar, bringing together political, diplomatic, economic and academic leaders from Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, and the United Nations.
Under the theme “Towards Integrated Value Chains for an Emerging Atlantic Africa”, the seminar, organised by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Senegal in collaboration with the Institut Émergence, aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It aimed to promote regional integration, economic sovereignty, and enhanced connectivity across the continent.
The ceremony opened with the national anthems of Morocco and Senegal. In his welcoming remarks, Moroccan Ambassador Hassan Naciri praised the participation of prominent figures from Senegal’s political and institutional spheres and emphasised that “Africa—especially its Atlantic front—is poised to play an increasingly central role in the global dynamic.”
Ambassador Naciri outlined Morocco’s three strategic initiatives for Atlantic Africa: The Atlantic African States Initiative, which unites 23 coastal nations around key priorities such as maritime security, the blue economy, and regional connectivity. The Africa-Atlantic Gas Pipeline Project, a major energy corridor crossing 13 countries and the Atlantic Access Initiative for Sahelian States, designed to integrate landlocked nations into regional value chains and reduce geographic isolation.
He also highlighted the importance of ongoing and planned infrastructure—such as the Dakhla Atlantic Port, the Tangier-Lagos corridor, and the Tiznit-Dakhla expressway—as tangible symbols of “the Kingdom’s commitment to building an integrated, interconnected, and united Atlantic Africa.”
Representing the President of Senegal’s National Assembly, Vice President Amadou Ba spoke on behalf of El Malick Ndiaye, emphasising that “history now calls on us to write a new economic grammar, driven by Africans themselves through their complementarities, resources, and collective aspiration for dignity.” He urged lawmakers to champion this momentum, stating: “Atlantic Africa can become a testing ground for a shared, pluralistic, yet coherent African sovereignty.”
Delivering the keynote address, former Senegalese National Assembly President Moustapha Niasse praised “the continental momentum initiated and implemented by Morocco through the remarkable leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.” He added: “When His Majesty reads the outcomes of this seminar, he will see once again that many of us—friends of Morocco—stand with him and with our own heads of state in this endeavour.”
UN Resident Coordinator in Senegal, Aminata Maïga, stressed the strategic role of Atlantic corridors from Casablanca to Lagos, via Nouakchott, Dakar, Abidjan, and Accra, stating they must become “more than just logistical routes—they should serve as the backbone of regional development.” She underscored that “integration is not merely a technical matter; it is a political decision, a long-term investment, and a bet on cooperation over fragmentation.”
Moubarack Lo, who provided the seminar’s scientific introduction, noted that Atlantic Africa is “a strategic space at the heart of today’s shifting geo-economic and geopolitical landscape.” He described the Tangier-Lagos corridor as “more than a technical undertaking—it embodies a pan-African vision in which infrastructure geography becomes the geography of a shared destiny.”
However, Lo also pointed to several challenges that must be addressed: weak regional value chains, overdependence on raw commodity exports, maritime insecurity, institutional fragmentation, and high logistical costs—estimated to account for “40 to 60 percent of the final price of intra-African traded goods.”
At the close of the opening session, participants unanimously called for joint action to “build our own infrastructure, train our talent, regulate our markets, and connect our ports and industrial zones in a Pan-African logic tailored to the Atlantic region.”
The overarching goal: to lay the foundations for an integrated, competitive, and resilient African Atlantic space—driving shared prosperity in alignment with Morocco’s royal vision, the AfCFTA, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
AC/sf/lb/as/APA