The Atlantic initiative: Foundations, characteristics, and geopolitical identity
By Mohamed Bouden
According to World Bank estimates, the interest in the Atlantic Ocean is constantly growing, driven by the desire to exploit its opportunities and capitalise on shared benefits to address global challenges.
Oceans play a crucial role in the global economy, contributing $1.5 trillion each year, a figure that is expected to double by 2030 to over $3 trillion. This projected expansion is also expected to create nearly 50 million jobs in the sustainable maritime economy sector in Africa, while contributing approximately $21 billion to Latin America’s gross domestic product.
King Mohammed VI’s vision for the Atlantic:
King Mohammed VI’s vision for the Atlantic, in collaboration with international and regional partners, represents a bold and innovative approach for the Afro-Atlantic region. This vision seeks to harness the human and natural resources of the area through a collective initiative aimed at bolstering development catalysts, enhancing maritime transportation infrastructure, and promoting investment in energy and maritime economy-related value chains.
Morocco’s Contribution to the Atlantic Initiative: Morocco, intrinsically tied to the Atlantic through its geopolitical identity, assumes a pivotal role in advancing an African viewpoint centred on the Atlantic coast, thereby enhancing dialogue and solidifying enduring relationships. As Africa’s foremost trade ally for numerous principal nations within the Euro-Atlantic area and the leading African investor in West Africa, Morocco sustains robust ties with African nations along this strategic front. Demonstrating Morocco’s enduring dedication to these partnerships, King Mohammed VI has undertaken 38 visits to 15 countries across the Afro-Atlantic region since 1999.
The Emergence of the Integration Initiative on the Atlantic Facade of Africa:
The emergence of the integration initiative on the Atlantic facade of Africa reflects the commitment of many regional actors to building a common and open platform for collaboration, dialogue, and exchange. The objective is to strengthen the competitive capacities of the 23 countries involved in order to effectively respond to the challenges of the current international arena. This initiative aims to make the African Atlantic coast a vector of security solutions, economic opportunities, and investment, within the framework of what is known as the ocean economy. The Atlantic offers a favourable environment for establishing significant links with other Atlantic regions, including the United States, Western Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This dynamic is partly explained by the fact that the Atlantic Ocean is today considered one of the most stable and busiest in terms of maritime trade, compared to the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The Advantages of Policy Integration and Harmonisation:
Efforts aimed at integrating and harmonising policies provide countries with enhanced competitive conditions, thereby bolstering opportunities for diversifying partnerships and expanding economic prospects. Additionally, they play a role in safeguarding shared interests against fluctuations in international markets and geopolitical shifts.
The Added Value of an Afro-Atlantic Cooperation Initiative:
Although some countries on the African Atlantic coast have significant individual resources, an Afro-Atlantic cooperation initiative could add value to the intrinsic strength of each country. This initiative is not limited to a traditional approach to integration, but adopts an enlightened vision of geopolitics that is both African and Atlantic, encompassing countries from four geopolitical regions of the continent: north, west, centre, and south. Its objective is to extend the Atlantic cooperation model by launching projects aimed at bringing about a fundamental transformation throughout this space. It is in this context that the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project fits in, which encompasses 13 African countries bordering the Atlantic and totaling 440 million inhabitants. With an ambitious infrastructure exceeding 5,660 km of gas pipeline towards Western Europe, this project could become a key element of shared prosperity in the Atlantic, while symbolising the meeting between two continents and paving the way for development and energy.
The Four Strategic Priorities of the Afro-Atlantic Initiative:
- Create an Afro-Atlantic space that strengthens stability and peace through security solutions.
- Establish an Afro-Atlantic space with a competitive advantage in value chains.
- Develop an Afro-Atlantic space that values its potential as an attractive pole facing the global South.
- Enhance collaboration across the Atlantic coastline of Africa, positively influencing the domestic economies of the participating nations. Six of Africa’s largest economies are situated along the Atlantic, accounting for 55 percent of the continent’s overall GDP and producing 57 percent of the trade within Africa, in addition to attracting 60 percent of the foreign direct investment. This concentration of economic activity generates heightened global attention towards this area.
- Increase the bargaining power of the Atlantic coastal countries with international powers, cooperation institutions, and regional forums to secure financial support for regional projects and defend regional interests in a realistic and pragmatic manner.
- Create an open and innovative platform to strengthen South-South cooperation and achieve a fundamental transformation across the Atlantic space, by promoting convergence between four continents (Africa, Europe, North and South America). The goal is to make the Atlantic a space of partnership for progress and peace, to accompany dynamic developments, especially since 46 percent of the African population lives in Atlantic coastal countries, largely young people who constitute a driving force in the labour market and a significant base for consumption.