Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, is hosting the 5th Ministerial Meeting of the Atlantic African States Process (PEAA) this Thursday, May 8. This Moroccan initiative, launched in August 2010, aims to strengthen cooperation among Atlantic African nations. In his address to participants, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita emphasized that the Atlantic African partnership is not only a strategic tool but also a political, economic, and human endeavor. «Our duty is to make it a reality—a visible, tangible, and sustainable reality», he stressed. Bourita reaffirmed «the Kingdom of Morocco's full commitment to advancing this dynamic, ensuring its continuity, and expanding its reach». «Atlantic Africa stands at a crossroads. It is being closely watched, actively courted, but also faces numerous systemic and cross-cutting threats», he warned. «This is not merely a political ambition, but a sovereignty and development imperative». The first meeting of the foreign ministers of Atlantic African states took place in August 2010 in Rabat, followed by a second in November of the same year, also in the Moroccan capital. The initiative was then paused for 13 years before being revived on June 8, 2022, in Rabat; on September 23, 2022, in New York on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly; and again on July 12, 2023, in Rabat. In his speech on November 6, 2023, marking the anniversary of the Green March, King Mohammed VI placed Atlantic African states at the heart of Morocco's African policy. Since then, as Bourita noted, several high-level meetings have taken place: Ministers of Justice in April 2024, Presidents of Parliament in February 2025, and the Conference on Maritime Security and the Fight Against Terrorism in January 2025. «These milestones have expanded our scope of action and deepened the coherence of our approach», Bourita said, aiming to make «Atlantic Africa a lever of unity, a driver of shared prosperity, and a bulwark of stability». Morocco has also committed to supporting Sahel countries in gaining access to the Atlantic—an initiative backed by Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad.
