Morocco is ensuring the preservation of its geostrategic interests in the face of South African diplomacy, which is accustomed to obstructing the Kingdom, said Ivorian political scientist Eddie Guipié.

Unilaterally invited by South Africa to take part in the “BRICS/Africa” meeting, scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg, “the Kingdom responded in the negative,” Guipié told MAP news agency.

“Morocco rejects the South African invitation and denounces the unilateral attitude of this country, known for its customary obstructive diplomacy towards the Kingdom,” added the political science lecturer, commenting on the remarks of an authorized source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates on this subject.

According to Guipié, Morocco has substantial and promising bilateral relations with the other four members of the BRICS Group, and has even signed Strategic Partnership Agreements with three of them.

The researcher said that this collaboration is part of the strengthening of multilateral South-South relations in particular, in line with the Kingdom’s well-understood geostrategic interests.

For Morocco, there has never been any question of responding positively to the invitation to the “BRICS/Africa” meeting scheduled to take place in South Africa, or of taking part in this meeting at any level whatsoever, says an authorized source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates.

In response to recent media reports referring to a hypothetical bid by the Kingdom to join the “BRICS” group, as well as its possible participation in the next “BRICS/Africa” meeting, scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the same source stresses that this was not a BRICS or African Union initiative, but an invitation from South Africa, in its national capacity.

Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse