King Mohammed VI of Morocco started on Wednesday an official visit to Juba, his first to South Sudan, since the creation of this young republic in 2011.
According to the South Sudanese media, shortly after his arrival, King Mohammed VI had a first meeting with President Kiir in the presidential office.
The two leaders then presided over the signing ceremony of nine cooperation agreements covering among others the sectors of trade, tourism, mining and investments.
All these agreements are part of a prospective vision that seeks to encourage and promote investments and trade between the two countries.
During his stay in Juba, the sovereign will visit the Moroccan field hospital deployed in the South Sudanese capital since January. He will also donate a local hospital center medical equipment, medicines and food products.
The Moroccan sovereign arrived in Juba coming from Addis Ababa, where he delivered on Tuesday on the second day of the 28th summit of the African Union (AU), a historic speech before his African peers, following the official readmission of Morocco within the AU as a full-fledged member, with the endorsement of 39 countries, including South Sudan.
In this speech, King Mohammed VI underlined his country’s commitment to the development of the continent and prosperity of African citizens, and its resolve to continue sharing and transferring its know-how, in a bid to build a safe, solidarity-based future.
“We enthusiastically invite African nations to join our country’s dynamism and to give new impetus to the whole of our continent,” King Mohammed VI pointed out in his speech, expressing his confidence that building more peaceful bilateral and multilateral relations helps create an environment conducive to development and growth.
Part of Morocco’s strategy to enhance south-south cooperation in the continent, King Mohammed VI has seen to it that each of the 46 visits he paid to 25 African countries, since coming to power in 1999, highlights by the signing of cooperation agreements and the launch of social development projects.
After South Sudan, the King is expected to visit Ghana and Zambia.
