On July 30, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Azerbaijan celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the accession of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to the Throne of Morocco, Eurasia Diary informs. State officials, representatives of Diplomatic Corp, Members of the Parliament and invited guests attended the event.

After the performance of the official anthems of Azerbaijan and Morocco, Ambassador of Morocco to Azerbaijan Adil Embarch and Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Republic Ramiz Hasanov delivered speeches. They highlighted that the relations between Morocco and Azerbaijan continue to develop at all levels.

Adil Embarch said that the celebration of the Throne Day is one of the oldest traditions in Morocco.

“It symbolizes the unity of the Moroccan Nation within its diversity and its profound values of peace, respect and tolerance”.

He also mentioned that the modernization of the economy, the gender issue and the fight against poverty become national priorities and all necessary resources were mobilized to that end, 20 years ago, when His Majesty King Mohammed VI came to power. As a result, Morocco is now emerging as a new industrial hub in various sectors.

Talking about Morocco-Azerbaijan relations Adil Embarch said that the countries share the same views with regard many subjects.

“The cooperation and coordination in the international organizations such as the UN or the OIC is exemplary. I would like to take a moment to thank the Azerbaijani government for its constructive position and strong support with regard to the territorial integrity of Morocco on the Sahara issue”.

Ambassador also highlighted that the number of visitors in both countries, whether for tourism or for business is steadily increasing and the cooperation between government agencies is more diversified. The volume of trade is still limited, but the potential and the business communities started showing interest.

On its term, Deputy Foreign Minister Ramiz Hasanov recalled that the Kingdom of Morocco supports Azerbaijan in its efforts to resolve Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and said that Azerbaijan also supports the inviolability of Morocco's borders.

He also said that there is a big potential for developing economic and trade relations between two countries in near future and that the first meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Morocco held in Baku will definitely have positive influence on further strengthening of the relations.  

After the official part, the guests could enjoy a variety of traditional food, sweets and tea of Morocco. 

Throne Day, also known as Feast of the Throne, is a public holiday in Morocco that commemorates the enthronement of the incumbent monarch. Since 1999, it has been celebrated on July 30.

20 years ago when King Mohammed VI came to power, following the death of his father King Hassan II, he initiated and supported a range of social, democratic and economic reforms to improve the life of the people of Morocco and strengthen the position of the Kingdom far beyond the borders to encourage foreign investment, improve the climate in the country, raise its infrastructure to international standards. The modernization of the economy, the gender issue and the fight against poverty became national priorities and all necessary resources were mobilized to that end. Today, people of Morocco can witness the effects of wise and progressive leadership on Morocco's socioeconomic development.

The totally dominating religion of Morocco is Islam, however, Morocco is a crossroad of monotheistic religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Initiated by a Kind Mohammed VI, dialogue of cultures and religions contributed to the formation of the civilization based on understanding among humans, regardless of skin color, race and religion. Today, Morocco is proud to be called as a peaceful state of hospitality, tolerance, openness and coexistence. On its own, religious tolerance can be observed in different cities of the Kingdom where mosques, churches and synagogues are coexisted. His Majesty King Hassan II was the first head of state in Muslim country to receive Pope John Paul II in Casablanca in 1985. King Mohammed VI also received Pope Francis during his official visit to Rabat on March 30^th and 31^st, 2019. The Kingdom is well-known and appreciated in its policy against terrorism and extremism to protect the population against the risks of ideological instrumentalization of religion.   

Moreover, special attention has been paid to allocate equal rights to women and man either it is in marriage or in politics. Women’s participation in politics and society has been significantly increased. As for today, the quota system increased women’s representation in the Moroccan parliament from two seats in 1993, to 81 seats in 2016 elections.

The Kingdom has undertaken significant reforms in 6 key sectors: automotive, aeronautics, logistics, renewable energy, tourism, and information and communication technologies. Inaugurated in June 2007 the Tangier Med port complex, located near the Strait of Gibraltar, increased its total capacity to 9 million containers and became the largest in Africa and the Mediterranean. The Tangier Med port now connects Morocco to 77 countries and 186 ports around the world. The realisation of one of the largest economic projects in the North African country will have positive implications for EU – Morocco relations.

Over the last twenty years, big investments have been done into road, maritime, rail and air transport system. Today, Morocco deserves to be called a hub for transport and logistics in Africa. In January 2017, Morocco returned to the African Union. In 2018, Morocco joined the African Continental Free Trade Area (CAFTA), one of the world’s largest free trade area, which offered new opportunities to promote foreign investment and realize comprehensive intra-African exchange.

Nigeria-Morocco Gas pipeline project launched on December 3 in 2016 links Nigeria’s gas resources with several West African countries and Morocco. The project, which is supposed to involve 15 countries in West Africa, will play a significant role in creation of a competitive regional electricity market. It even has a potential to be linked to European market in the future. All of this is a result of strong relations between Morocco and Nigeria as the pipeline was first announced following a meeting between King Mohammed VI and Buhari at the UN Climate Summit COP22 in Marrakech in November 2016.

With an overall production capacity of 700.000 cars per year Morocco became the largest manufacturer in Africa. Morocco is also becoming a key supplier for European auto factories.  At the same time, Morocco has the fastest growing aerospace industry in the world with over 140 companies.

In 2018, the President of France Emmanuel Macron and the King, Morocco's inaugurated Africa's and Middle East’s first high-speed train line. These high-speed trains are flashing along the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

Despite of fast growing economic and energy policy of Morocco, the government pays special attention to clean and renewable energy. Considering good location of the country, nice climate and available water resources, the Kingdom deploys much efforts and finances to develop renewable energy sources to produce by 52% by 2030 and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. King Mohammed VI highly support series of solar energy projects, as for example Morocco’s Solar Program initiated in 2009. Morocco is close to completing the world's largest concentrated Noor Complex Solar Power Plant. The first part of a three-phase project of the thermosolar farm was officially turned on in 2016 by His Majesty Mohammed VI of Morocco. This will make Morocco a major site for the production of solar energy, and eventually a major exporter of flows to Europe.

Therefore, under the wise leadership of the King Mohammed VI Morocco has already achieved tremendous success in various spheres and has a broad potential to be considered as one of the leading states in Africa and one of the reliable partners for America, Europe, and Asia.