In a speech read on his behalf by the Secretary-General of the Department of Communication, Abdelaziz Bouzdaini, at the opening of the 7th General Assembly of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA), the Minister stressed that the African continent is called upon today “to write its own narratives, to give others and itself its own narrative.”

Referring to the theme of this 7th FAAPA General Assembly, “African newsmaking, a major sovereign stake,” Bensaïd noted that it recalls the major issues at stake in the noble profession of news agencies, that of information, noting that this assembly puts information in its global context.

“Transparent and dynamic news agencies perform two functions for society: openness and solidity,” he said, stressing that “a free and open society, with a fluid flow of information, is also a strong, robust, and resilient society.”

The Minister added that the theme of this General Assembly also recalls this “necessary association between two requirements: freedom and sovereignty.”

For him, “a free society, through its press, its information outlets, its space for expression, must also be a sovereign society, which does not depend on biased information, the vector of narratives alien to its values and interests.”

He added that Africa, more aware than ever of its wealth, is today clear-sighted on the question of information sovereignty, digital sovereignty, and cultural sovereignty.

Bensaïd also pointed out that FAAPA’s work is in line with the lofty vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI for Africa, recalling that in his speech commemorating the 48th anniversary of the glorious Green March, the Sovereign recalled the importance of the Atlantic for Morocco and for Africa more generally.

In this respect, the Atlantic initiative proposed by His Majesty the King is “a complete civilizational vision,” he asserted, stressing that it is a logistical corridor, a geopolitical window, a socio-economic alliance, but it is also, as the Sovereign reminded us, a “Mecca of human communion” and a “focus of continental and international influence.”

“This communion, this influence, it is up to the press organs, players in the world of information, feathers, cameras, and voices of freedom of expression, to provide it to the Africa of today and tomorrow,” he insisted.

“Information will play a major role in the continental and oceanic civilizational bloc we need to build, based on our common belonging to the African and Atlantic space,” he said.

“Alongside ports and gas pipelines, roads and railroads – in short, alongside physical logistics – information is at the heart of the mental logistics that must bind us together, the web we must weave between us, between our languages, our cultures, our values, to create a free, open and sovereign African public space, capable of becoming a major player in the global cultural competition that lies ahead,” concluded the Minister.