The city of Dakhla is hosting the 18th congress of the Association of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World from November 27th to December 1st, reads a press release sent Thursday to Yabiladi. Initiated by the Regional Council of Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab with the support of the local authorities, and in partnership with the World Association, this congress will include a dialogue, debate, and exchange of experiences on various themes related to the preservation and conservation of bays and sustainable development. It will also be an opportunity to spotlight the region's tourism and economic potential, and help promote sustainable and inclusive development, according to the president of the Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab Regional Council, Yenja El Khattat. «We will try to be worthy of it and this will certainly help us to more strongly promote the cause of coastal protection and the development of bays at the international level», noted the President of the Association, Louis Thébault, who represents the bay of Mont Saint Michel in France. The event will be attended by representatives of 44 member bays from different continents. Several other new bays, candidates to join this international network, are also invited. The forum will also bring together representatives of local authorities, elected officials, public and private sector leaders, academics, as well as members of civil society. This is the second time that this major event is being held in Morocco after the one organized in Agadir in 2004. The congress will feature the deliberations of the General Assembly of the Association, workshops notably on natural conservation, renewable energies, and the South-South and North-South partnership, a forum of African bays, a youth forum, the presentation of the prize for a video competition, as well as a beach clean-up and a series of site visits in Dakhla, reads the same press release. For the record, The Association of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World was founded in 1997 and strives to preserve and promote the biodiversity of these exceptional natural sites and contribute to the promotion of sustainable tourism.
