French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, stated that her visit to the Kingdom of Morocco’s southern provinces, the first of its kind for a Western minister in this region, is part of the continuity of the reinforced exceptional partnership between France and Morocco and falls within the framework of the “new book that the two countries are writing.”
“This is a historic visit, since it’s the first time a Western minister has visited this region of Morocco. It’s an important moment, because it’s not a new page in bilateral relations, but rather a new book that France and Morocco are going to write together,” Dati said during the “Invité spécial” (special guest) program broadcast on Tuesday evening by the Moroccan TV channel 2M.
In this respect, she stressed that Morocco is a “strategic partner” for both France and the European Union in strategic areas, such as agriculture, culture, the economy, defense and energy where the Kingdom is the leading country in renewables thanks to the High Vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
She added that culture is an “important part of this reconstruction and new cooperation” between the two countries, recalling the various stages of her visit to the southern provinces.
Describing the town of Tarfaya as a “historic place of shared memory,” where Antoine Saint-Exupéry, then head of the airfield in this region, produced his first “Courrier Sud” (Southern Mail), the French minister felt that the creation of a French Alliance branch in Laayoune represented a “historic moment” in her trip to the Moroccan Sahara.
The Alliance is “a very ambitious project in which France is going to cooperate, in terms of access to both language or culture, and will also be a resource center for all local inhabitants, as well as for all Morocco’s regions,” she explained.
Dati also welcomed the inauguration in Dakhla of the regional branch of the Higher Institute of Audiovisual and Film Professions (ISMAC), which aims to give concrete expression to bilateral cooperation in the fields of co-production and cinematographic exchanges, through training, artist residencies and cross-fertilization of expertise.
Commenting on Morocco’s participation in the Paris Book Festival (April 11-13) as guest of honor, Dati said that the event will be an opportunity for the French public to discover a “new generation of Moroccan writers.”
“There’s a new generation of Moroccan writers that the French haven’t discovered. Thus, the interest is obviously that these Moroccan writers and the Moroccan publishing world, which is highly reputed, should be welcomed at this major Book Festival,” she said.
She also described the joint organization by Morocco, Portugal and Spain of the 2030 World Cup as a “historic event and an exceptional showcase of culture,” which will spotlight the Kingdom as “a culturally complete country, where all the arts are noble and which boasts an extremely rich cultural heritage.”
MAP: 19 February 2025
