Atlantic Africa: The new economic bloc on the block

There will also likely be more competition – and potential conflicts – over such routes among leading trading nations.

Moves to set up and control the world's trading infrastructure are underway, not least with China's Belt and Road Initiative. Climate change and population growth are also expected to be factors.

As the Morocco-led initiative arrives in these complex and challenging times, Al Majalla looks at what is happening, the reasons behind the move and the promise it holds for the global south to work together on its own terms.

A royal initiative

Morocco knows its 3,500km coastline along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic gives it an enhanced strategic position.

For hundreds of years, the North African country has been a key link in the world maritime order between the global north and the global south, even after the fall of Andalusia at the end of the 15th century.

Its fresh move to boost economic development is not just in Morocco's interest; it could also help boost the Sahel countries that share deep historical and cultural ties with cities from Marrakech to Fez.

The initiative has royal backing. King Mohammed VI chose his speech on the 48th anniversary of the Green March on 6 November – a national day commemorating the demonstrations that led to Spain handing its territory in the Sahara to Morocco – to outline the Atlantic Africa plan.

He said: "If the Mediterranean front is a link between Morocco and Europe, the Atlantic front is Morocco's gateway to Africa, and the window of its openness to the American space."

The King's initiative includes putting infrastructure in the south of the country at the disposal of non-maritime Sahel states – breaking their isolation and linking them to the Atlantic Ocean.

A $1.5bn port complex is being built on the coast of the city of Dakhla. It consists of four ports for international trade, energy, fishing, storage, and redistribution.

South-South cooperation

The plan seeks to strengthen co-operation among emerging and developing countries within the African continent itself, and to use both economic and natural resources to spark a comprehensive renaissance on the continent.

This has become known as a 'South-South' co-operation.

As the King said in his speech: "The problems and difficulties facing the Sahel countries won't be solved by security and military measures but by adopting an approach based on co-operation and common development."

He proposed launching an international initiative to enable these countries to access the Atlantic Ocean, saying its success was "dependent on the rehabilitation of infrastructure and work to link it to transport and communication networks".

He said that Morocco is ready to put its roads, ports, and railways at the service of other countries, arguing that this would constitute a fundamental transformation in their economies and those of the whole region.

Analysts believe that Morocco will, in turn, benefit from a regional economic grouping as the second-biggest investor in the wider continent and the largest in West Africa.

The initiative will make the Sahara region the gateway to Africa's development and a meeting point among ports of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the rest of the world.

Other countries will also benefit from ending the geographical isolation of the Sahel, which is bordered by the Sahara Desert and threatened by extremist groups. It has a long history of military coups, security problems, and social fragility.

Economic development has previously been held back by colonial, Western, and rising powers, including Paris, Moscow, Washington, and Beijing, who have sought to manipulate countries for their natural resources.

Co-operation over conflict

The recent outbreak of wars around the world, most recently in Gaza, has reminded the people of the region, not least the younger generation, of the importance of cooperation rather than conflict.

Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the new initiative "isn't meant to compete with regional or other African organisations".

It will, however, "enable African countries to strengthen the Atlantic space, adopt common positions, and achieve long-term engagement with the countries of the other southern shore of the Atlantic, including Latin America."

There are other projects in the region with similar benefits on offer.

Well-received plans for a 5,660km gas pipeline between Morocco and Nigeria costing $25bn have showcased the economic and political benefits via new areas of cooperation among the countries of the South Atlantic.

Read more: Not just a 'pipe' dream, Morocco-Nigeria gas line set to transform Africa

Such integration promotes political stability and sustainable development.

The pipeline will ensure energy security and electricity delivery to 440 million people in 15 countries belonging to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

New opportunities

About three years ago, Morocco proposed a new Atlantic bloc for coastal African nations.

From the outset, the idea was to unite the countries to boost their economic cooperation and political and security coordination to help achieve rapid and sustainable development and a cleaner environment.

Some 23 countries are involved, representing 55% of the continent's economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), amounting to $3.5tn in 2022.

They showed interest in a "blue economy" that revolves around maritime activity. Most of these countries have unexploited and poorly equipped coastlines.

Rabat and New York have hosted three summits of foreign ministers of 21 countries, most recently as July 2023, to study the structure of an African-Atlantic region into a strategic and economic pole.

Three working groups were established to develop ideas in areas like economics, politics, energy, blue economy, regional security, and the maritime economy.

Towards a new bloc

The aim is to help the 23 countries gradually develop into an integrated and unified bloc along the seaboard facing Latin America to promote traditional trade routes.

There is no military aspect to the plans. However, better economic cooperation is likely to help coordination on wider security issues, especially for smaller states dependent on natural resource exports, which can be easier to undermine.

Four landlocked developing countries have joined, these being Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The bloc could help them make better economic use of their abundant mineral resources and raw materials via more reliable links to the market.

The central three economic powers within Atlantic Africa are Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco. Others include Angola, Namibia, Senegal, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. These are classified as emerging nations.

According to Le Courrier International newspaper, the new bloc shows Morocco is "putting pressure on Europe with its Atlantic project, which now defines its geopolitical priorities and expands its presence from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean".

It added that the new bloc gives Morocco "full access to Africa and a window to the American space, being the only country in Africa with two seafronts with a maritime area exceeding 1.2 million sq km".

According to Zakaria Aboul-Dahab, a research professor at Mohammed V University, the geography of the seas allows Morocco to be a neighbour to Spain, Portugal, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone while overlooking Central America and the US.

Rapprochement with Spain

The return to the government of Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez prevented right-wing populist rule in Madrid, which eased relations with Rabat and opened the door to deeper political, economic, and security ties between the two.

Read more: Morocco fishes for better benefits from Europe

Atalayar, an influential Spanish newspaper, said relations with Morocco are going through a period of deepening cooperation and trust.

Spain welcomed the Atlantic Africa project, which it believes serves its interests, not least with its territory in the Canary Islands off Morocco's south coast. The Spanish language is spoken in many countries involved with the proposal.

It also opens a window to Latin America – Spain's cultural cousin, not to mention a prime commercial and tourist market. This can only add to Madrid's international reach.

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the idea of Atlantic Africa during a meeting with Morocco's Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch in Berlin, identifying it as an investment opportunity and source of future stability in the region.

The visit was part of Germany's G20 Compact with Africa initiative. The stance contrasts with that of France's President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Less debt, more investment

According to the World Bank, the combined debt of the African continent is $1.14tn, and there are countries that have entirely defaulted on their debts in the south and east.

The IMF said African debt doubled from 2013 to 2022, accounting for 60% of combined GDP on average. Also, 66% of Africa's external debt is held by nine countries, led by South Africa with a share of 15%.

According to the International Monetary Fund, 22 African countries are already burdened with debt or unable to meet their financial obligations to creditors. Foreign direct investment fell 42% in 2022 for security and political reasons.

The countries of Atlantic Africa appear to be better off than their neighbours in the east of the continent, and the north is better off than the south for external indebtedness.

This is an economic reason for South Africa to provoke division in the north of the continent, especially between Algeria and Morocco.

They are among the main contributors to the African Union, Egypt, and Nigeria.

All five together constitute the largest economies on the continent but compete with one another for various reasons, going back to colonial times.

Morocco's plan for the global south to move to a future of its own design and on its own terms comes at a turbulent time for the world, but one with some promise.