Mali and Morocco officially relaunched their bilateral exchanges on water sector cooperation during a high-level meeting on May 22, 2026, in Rabat.
The discussions highlighted Morocco’s extensive expertise in water resource management at a critical time when access to clean drinking water and robust sector governance remain pressing needs for Mali. Moroccan Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka received his Malian counterpart, Minister of Energy and Water Tiémoko Traoré, who was accompanied by Mali’s Ambassador to Morocco, Fafré Camara. The ministerial dialogue focused heavily on strengthening partnerships regarding technical expertise, professional training, meteorology, and direct support for Mali’s immediate water sector priorities.
During the talks, Morocco presented the core orientations of its national water policy, which was specifically developed to counter severe water stress and recurring droughts. The Moroccan strategy relies on large-scale dam construction, hydraulic interconnections between basins, seawater desalination, the reuse of treated wastewater, and the strategic deployment of mobile brackish water treatment stations. This technical experience holds considerable interest for Mali, where access to drinking water remains highly uneven between regions. According to recent data from Mali’s water ministry, the rate of access to drinking water reached 83.2% in urban and semi-urban areas in 2024, compared to just 67.3% in rural communities, yielding a national average of 71.9%.
To address these disparities, the two delegations discussed specialized training programs for Malian officials at Moroccan institutes, alongside technical support in meteorology and cloud-seeding technologies. The diplomatic meeting arrives as several international partners continue to back Mali’s water infrastructure, including the World Bank, which approved $100 million in financing in January 2025 for the Mali Water Security Support Project to boost production and distribution networks across multiple localities. At the close of the talks, Minister Nizar Baraka indicated that a formal cooperation agreement is being prepared to support Mali’s new national water plan through targeted technical assistance and governance support, cementing water as a central pillar of their technical and strategic alliance.
MD/te/Sf/lb/abj/APA