This Partnership aimed at strengthening the links of cooperation and common action between the two cooperation initiatives in the Atlantic. 

It should be recalled that the Rabat Process on the AASP was launched in June 2022, with a view to materializing the Vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, to make the African Atlantic region a zone of peace stability and shared prosperity. It seeks to strengthen cooperation ties in order to provide practical and effective responses to the challenges of the African Atlantic region on the basis of consultation and joint endeavors.

Mr. Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Expatriates, underlined, in his speech at the AASP Ministerial Meeting held in Rabat in July 2023, that this African partnership Process should open up to other initiatives and other partners, in the Atlantic and elsewhere, in order to share successful experiences and expertise in the areas of maritime security, the blue economy, maritime connectivity and energy, among other things.

This partnership document was signed by Mr. Tarik Iziraren, Permanent Secretary of the African Atlantic States Process (AASP), and Mr. Nuno de Noronha Bragança, Coordinator of the Atlantic Center of Portugal, on 27 May 2024, on the sidelines of the IV Course on Maritime Security held in the Azores Islands.

This partnership aims to establish better coordination of efforts between the AASP and the Atlantic Center with a view to jointly and more effectively confronting the various challenges in the Atlantic, as well as seeking opportunities for cooperation. Indeed, security and environmental challenges such as transnational organized crime, marine pollution or climate change are challenges that transcend national borders and require concerted and coordinated actions.

This partnership also provides for the regular holding of consultations between the two initiatives on issues of common interest with the aim of deepening cooperation ties.