African Heads of State Entrust HM the King with Implementing Declaration of 1st Africa Action Summit

Marrakech, 16/11/2016 (MAP) – African Heads of State, convened on Wednesday in Marrakech, entrusted HM King Mohammed VI with the implementation of the Declaration of the first Africa Action Summit in favor of a continental co-emergence.

In this Declaration, adopted during this Summit, which was held on the sidelines of the COP22, African Heads of State and Government invited HM the King, “together with the current President of the African Union, to work for the Implementation of the Declaration, notably concerning coordination and monitoring of priority initiatives in the areas of climate change and sustainable development, as well as in terms of mobilizing the continent’s bilateral or multilateral partners.”

In this context, they decided to set up three commissions dedicated to the Sahel region, the Congo Basin region and to the island states, chaired respectively by the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Seychelles.

While thanking HM King Mohammed VI for taking the initiative to convene this Summit of Action for the co-emergence of Africa and while highlighting the relevance of uniting the continent’s voice to better defend its interests, they called on “our strategic partners to strengthen our cooperation in the direction of African ambition for sustainable and inclusive development, and to provide effective and concrete support for the implementation of this ambition, notably through increasing public funding, facilitating access to climate finance and its rebalancing in favor of adaptation, as well as strengthening capacity building and technology transfer.”

The African Heads of State also pledged to promote policies and measures (…) for a profound economic and social structural transformation in Africa, to consolidate their respective commitments to tackle the effects of climate change to give greater coherence to their strategies, and to speed up the implementation of initiatives already identified or launched.

They also pledged to encourage and facilitate the participation of private sector in the mobilization of additional capacity and funding to meet the challenge of climate change.

The African Heads of State and Government, gathered at the invitation of HM King Mohammed VI, stressed that Africa, which has contributed the least to global emissions of greenhouse gases, is the continent most affected by climate change and its effects on its territories, the consequences of which may pose a threat to its peace, security and sustainable development.

They also reaffirmed their willingness to work jointly for an Africa resilient to climate change that shapes its destiny, through sub-regional and regional approaches.