Speaking at the opening of the first ministerial meeting of the champion countries of the implementation of the Marrakech Pact on Migration, MFA Bourita stressed the need to "promote inclusive societies, encourage regular migration, reduce the vulnerabilities of migrants, while promoting exchanges, cooperation and partnerships, as well as further interaction between the Marrakech Pact and the 2030 Agenda".

The Minister, who said that "migration can no longer be seen as a stigma, nor can the migrant be perceived as a threat", noted that the need for a cooperative framework on migration has never been more evident. He added that while many structural and cyclical challenges and deficits remain, the Pact offers a roadmap for overcoming some and addressing others.

Therefore, he added, this conference "must be an opportunity for us to carry out specific actions: to provide, based on the sharing of our respective experiences, concrete guidelines for advancing the Pact, and to create momentum ahead of the first International Migration Review Forum, to be held in New York in May 2022".

It is also about taking stock of the regional review processes, supporting the UN agenda on migration, and building momentum for the reaffirmation of the 23 objectives of the Marrakech Pact, he noted.

Referring to the designation of the Kingdom as a champion country of the implementation of the Marrakech Pact, he indicated "our commitment is, indeed, a consistent application of our position on migration and the principles we defend".

"First, the conviction that migration can be beneficial, then, the will to bring migration in all our regional, continental and bi-continental spaces of belonging; but also the refusal to sacrifice the nexus development-migration on the altar of all-security; and above all, the firm determination never to instrumentalize, militarize or subcontract migration," he stressed.

Because, explained MFA Bourita, "migration has, above all, this feature: it is structural. We come back to it, all the time. Wars, pandemics and the evils of our era, come and go. Migration, however, remains".

To this end, "we want our group to be expanded to include other countries, which like us, speak the same language, that of the reference contained in the Marrakech Pact”.

"We want to go further; by reiterating the desire to see a Special Envoy of the African Union for Migration materialize; by replicating the experience of the Observatory in other continents; or, by considering the creation in academic institutions and universities of the champion countries, of a network of research centers on migration that would work with the IOM. It could focus initially on the issue of brain drain," he said.

MFA Bourita insisted that "we want to meet the challenges of the future, ensure that migrants are never again forgotten by pandemics, strengthen the resilience of human mobility and ensure, in sum, that migration is at the optimum of everyone's interests”.

To do this, "the 23 objectives of the Marrakech Pact are the compass of our action," he noted.

"The time for mobilization has arrived, not only to change perceptions on migration but also to reinvigorate actions in its favor," concluded MFA Bourita.