M. Mohammed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance participated in Addis Ababa, on Monday 14 May 2018 at the 51st session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, held under the theme "The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Creating Fiscal Space for Employment and Economic Diversification".
M. Boussaid also spoke, alongside eminent African governmental and academic figures, at a round table on the theme: "The AfCFTA: Africa's fiscal space and financial sustainability".
On that occasion, he welcomed the signing last March of the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which constitutes an important step towards the integration of the continent, the intensification of trade at regional level and the acceleration of Africa's structural transformation through the establishment of a strong and diversified industrial base.
Speaking at this meeting, Mr. Boussaid stressed Morocco's strong and active commitment to strengthening African integration in line with the vision of the South-South cooperation advocated by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, which is based on the strengthening and implementation of structuring initiatives to meet the challenges of global and sustainable development in Africa.
He outlined the Moroccan experience in mobilizing local resources, strengthening public finances to support the economic diversification of the Kingdom's productive fabric and achieving strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth. He also assured that the implementation of the AfCFTA and its accompanying through adequate public policies will create important opportunities to accelerate the structural transformation of all African countries.
Thus, M. Boussaid highlighted the efforts made by the public authorities to guarantee optimum management of macroeconomic balances and widen budgetary margins through the elaboration of a new framework for the preparation and execution of the budget and the modernization of the tax administration, in addition to rationalizing public investments and improving their effectiveness and encouraging partnerships between the public and private sectors in the financing of infrastructure projects.
M. Boussaid said that Morocco is ready to host the next session of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Conference of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in 2019. As a reminder, M. Boussaid chaired a strong delegation to this conference, including Fatima Sida, 2nd Vice-President of the Regional Council of Laayoune-Sakia-El Hamra, Najem Bekkar, member of the Regional Council of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, Ambassador Mohamed Arouchi, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the African Union, in addition to representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Economy and Finance, and Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy, as well as the High Commission for Planning, Bank Al Maghrib, and the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the AU.