Rabat, The 11th Conference of the Association of Senates, Shura and Equivalent Councils of Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA) has called on Arab and African countries to promote air, sea and land transport to facilitate the mobility of people, goods and services between the countries of the two regions.
It stressed the consolidation of the two-chamber system, which broadens the basis of participation in decision-making and ensures the effectiveness of legislation, its relevance and conformity with reality.
The conference, held in the Moroccan capital Rabat, called for reforming the “Covax” system to meet the needs of African and Arab countries for vaccines against COVID-19 and to accelerate the strengthening of herd immunity against its variants, as well as to strengthen the mechanisms for socio-economic recovery.
The Final Declaration included decisions and recommendations focusing on the importance of boosting cooperation in various fields between the Arab and African regions, especially in the areas of development, economy and trade, and working to remove obstacles, including customs and mobility barriers that prevent the expansion of cooperation according to Emiratis News Agency (WAM).
It highlighted the significance of strengthening mechanisms for Arab-African financial cooperation, establishing investment funds to encourage co-location of industrial, agricultural and service activities, while considering the establishment of an Arab-African institution to finance co-development, strengthen cooperation between central banks and build strong financial institutions to promote investment.
The Final Declaration stressed the importance of establishing a strategic partnership that would allow Arab-Asian countries to enjoy “preferential status” within the framework of the promising prospects offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (ACFTA).
It called for encouraging the exchange of experiences and best practices in health, energy and food sovereignty in Africa and the Arab world, the goal being the emergence of an Arab-African cooperation that strengthens strategic security, in light of the great global imbalance in supply chains and the emergence of new areas of conflict that threaten global supply routes.
It also called for the establishment of a “Network of Women Parliamentarians for the Economic Empowerment of Women and Girls in the Arab World and Africa”.
The network will strengthen gender-based budgeting mechanisms and formulate strategies to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls, as well as public policies and legislation to empower all women and girls in the Arab World and Africa, it said.
Aware of the dangerous impact of climate change on security and stability in the Arab and African regions, the conference called for investing all means to resolve disputes related to water, energy and food resources through fruitful dialogue and peaceful mechanisms in order to safeguard common strategic security.
It drew attention to the alarming exacerbation of climate change and its impact on migration and the emergence of the phenomenon of climate displacement, calling for accelerating the implementation of the “Marrakech Pact” for safe, orderly and regular migration.
The ASSECAA Congress stressed that the Rabat edition, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the association’s establishment, constitutes a historic opportunity to inaugurate actions to promote common Arab-African interests and implement new parliamentary initiatives aimed at strengthening economic cooperation and contributing concretely to the realization of our peoples’ aspirations for a dignified life, well-being, prosperity, peace and security.
Source: Bahrain News Agency