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Foreign ministers of the member states of the Royal Initiative on the Atlantic African States Process (AASP) held their 6th meeting in New York, on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 80th United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting followed the “Africa for the Ocean” Summit, held at the initiative of King Mohammed VI in Nice in June, during the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3).
It marks a major milestone in strengthening the Royal Initiative, which aims to deepen cooperation and integration among African states bordering the Atlantic. The meeting also served as an opportunity to announce actions that will further consolidate the ownership and anchoring of this initiative by its members.
As a sign of this ownership, Benin will host the next meeting of the AASP FMs in 2026 to continue discussions on the implementation of the Initiative, which is intended to be pragmatic and based on solidarity.
AASP is today a living and dynamic reality that is already bearing its first fruits, emphasized Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who chaired the meeting.
The Atlantic African space harbors 46 major ports connected to global trade routes, and hosts more than 350 million inhabitants, in addition to a combined exclusive economic zone exceeding 13 million km², noted the official.
Moreover, this space includes more than 30% of Africa’s known offshore gas reserves and over 40% of the continent’s fishery resources, he said, adding that this “coastline” is a geostrategic and economic “backbone” of our continent.
In this context, Bourita welcomed the “concrete progress” made since the 5th meeting of the AASP Foreign Ministers, held in Praia, Cape Verde, in May 2025, in particular the discussions on establishing coordination mechanisms necessary for the coherence of collective action, the enrichment of the Action Plan on the blue economy with an aquaculture component, as well as the strengthening of the connectivity dimension through the organization by Morocco, in 2026, of the International Ports Exhibition.
The Atlantic African space, argued Bourita, can be a “strategic lever,” as it is positioned, at the geo-economic level, “at the heart of trade routes” between Africa, Europe and the Americas, at a time when more than 90% of African trade transits by sea.
He also stressed the need to open up to other actors of the Atlantic basin to defend the African vision of a stable, secure and prosperous Atlantic.
Bourita, who highlighted the importance of the AASP on the geostrategic level, noted that security is emerging as a central issue, at a time when nearly 60% of piracy incidents recorded in Africa in 2024 occurred in the Gulf of Guinea, and more than 50% of drug trafficking to Europe transits through the Atlantic African space.
Morocco’s Ministry of Equipment and Water is preparing to organize, in the first quarter of 2026, the International Port Exhibition, where the Royal Initiative will be highlighted as one of its key activities.
In preparation for the New York meeting, senior officials from AASP Foreign Ministries held a meeting early September to exchange views on national coordination mechanisms related to the Initiative’s implementation.
On this occasion, Morocco’s national coordination mechanism was presented along with the coordination frameworks established by other member states. Participants unanimously emphasized the need for effective coordination to ensure the initiative’s success, as well as the importance of its institutionalization.
The AASP is the embodiment of the Royal Initiative aimed at structuring cooperation and integration among the African states that share the Atlantic Ocean, the aim being to enhance their security and co-development.
Since its launch in June 2022, the Initiative has gained wide recognition at both regional and international levels. It has now become one of the key instruments of the Kingdom’s South-South cooperation dynamic on the African continent.
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