Morocco is looking to make the African diaspora the continent’s locomotive for growth and transformation.
This is what emerged from the intervention of the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, during the 3rd virtual meeting of the High Committee of the Agenda of the “Decade of African roots and the African Diaspora.”
“In the context of globalisation and the emergence of new opportunities for Africa, the African diaspora has a know-how and expertise that is highly beneficial to our economies, which the continent should capitalise on without further delay,” said Nasser Bourita.
The Moroccan minister also spoke about remittances from the African diaspora, which continue to increase year after year, citing data from the World Bank, which estimated them at 48 billion dollars in 2019.
This is $2 billion more than in 2018.
However, “these transfers are subject to exorbitant transfer rates,” the minister stressed.
According to some studies, the deductions made by banking institutions can reach 15 percent, representing 1.6 billion euros in annual earnings for the African continent, as the minister pointed out.
To overcome these obstacles, “which run counter to the Sustainable Development Goals,” the minister pointed out that “the High Committee could involve certain African Fintech start-ups, with the aim of diversifying the money transfer institutions on the continent and allowing a better reallocation of these funds for direct investment in Africa.”
In addition, the Moroccan official highlighted the “pioneering” role that the African Migration Observatory (AMO) could play alongside the High Committee for the establishment of a system of skills mapping, at all levels, of the African diaspora to facilitate the mobility of African labour, as well as the dissemination of their know-how.
He also advocated an e-business platform that could be created to relay success stories of successful initiatives of the African diaspora both abroad and on the continent, affirming, at the same time, that Morocco confirmed its financial contribution announced during the 2nd meeting of the High Committee.
He proposed, like the initiative of Togo, to make available to the commission two executives to accompany and monitor its work.
HA/lb/as/APA