Morocco and Canada are celebrating, this year 2022, the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and cooperation.
Cooperation between the two countries has grown over the years, favored, among other things, by Canadian investments in Morocco, a window on Africa, and the membership of the two countries in the Francophonie. It affects different areas (diplomatic, economic, cultural, etc.).
Economically, Morocco is now Canada’s 3rd largest economic partner in Africa, with nearly 850 million Canadian dollars in annual trade volume.
Several tools have been put in place to deepen the collaboration between the two countries. Among the latest to date is a framework partnership agreement between the Moroccan Association of Exporters (ASMEX) and the Western Canada-Morocco Chamber of Commerce (CCOCM), intended to promote business and investment opportunities between Morocco and the western provinces of Canada.
This year saw the reconstitution, last February, of the Canadian-Moroccan Parliamentary Friendship Group, co-chaired by MP Rachel Bendayane of the Liberal Party, and Senator Salma Ataullahjane of the Conservative Party.
The Moroccan community is quite large in Canada. Estimated at around 160,000 people, it is « highly appreciated for its vitality, its dynamism, its high qualifications and its good integration and contribution to the host society », says the magazine published by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Canada. on the occasion of this event of the 60th anniversary of Morocco-Canada relations.
This magazine of high artistic and informative quality evokes in Arabic, French and English, the history of these 60 years of relations between Morocco and Canada.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco is one of the fundamental actors working to strengthen Moroccan-Canadian relations.
Rabat inaugurated a Moroccan Consulate General in Toronto last November. For the Ambassador of the Kingdom to Canada, Souriya Otmani, this consular representation « is the result of exemplary and intense cooperation between Morocco and Canada, in various fields, despite the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19”. In the wake of the inauguration of the consulate, the Moroccan Association of Toronto (AMDT) entered into a partnership with the Bank of Africa.
Next to the embassy, there is the Moroccan Cultural Center in Montreal whose mission is part of Morocco’s policy to promote Moroccan culture and civilization throughout the world and to promote the integration of its nationals abroad in the companies of the countries of residence.
It is the first Moroccan Cultural Center created abroad by the Delegate Ministry in charge of Moroccans Residing Abroad and Migration Affairs.
Dar Al Maghrib of Montreal, located in the heart of Montreal (near the Palais des Congrès), is a space for meetings, exchanges, entertainment and activities that makes this place a focal point for the entire diaspora. African in Canada. It organizes many events and activities allowing the public to discover Moroccan heritage in all its Arab-Muslim components and the rich and varied plural African heritage.
It is also a place for learning languages, cultural events and exhibitions. The center has a library and a media library
Civil society is not left out for the development of good relations between Canada and the Cherifian Kingdom, gateway and economic hub to Africa.
Thus, last February, the international president of the Organization Maroc Afrika Cultures et Développements (OMA), Dr. Najib Kettani, visiting Canada, led a delegation of OMA-Canada for a visit to the center culture of Morocco in Montreal.
The OMA-Canada delegation, made up of its President Mr. Max Mahi, project manager engineer, construction economist, chartered and CEO of MB Groupe (real estate promotion and development company), as well as its Secretary General, Mr. Othmane Kettani, international Soccer consultant and President of K Sport, was welcomed by the director of the center, Mrs. Houda Zemmouri, with whom she discussed the prospect of developing a partnership between the two entities which share the same conviction and vision relating intercultural and inter-African exchanges (see our press release published on our Facebook page on February 8).
Projects are in sight to commemorate these 60 years of diplomatic relations, supported by the Canadian Embassy in Morocco and the Moroccan Embassy in Canada.
By OMA Newsletter No. 665 of 12/04/2022
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
