By Adu Koranteng
The Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana, His excellency, Imane Ouadil has commended the President, Executives and members of the Ghana Morocco Old students Association(GHAMOSA ) for using their knowledge and expertise to promote and strengthen the relationship between Ghana and Morocco.
Speaking at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Association in Accra on 11th November 2022, she said the old students are one of the important investments of the Moroccan government in Ghana and an investment in the future for the two countries and for the African continent .
According to her, there has been an increase in student mobility from African countries as a result of the good cooperation agreements. “currently, Morocco hosts more than 18,000 students from 47 African countries , enrolled in different Moroccan higher education public institutions such as the faculties of Medicine and pharmacy, Dentistry , science and technology , engineering sciences , commerce and management technology and translation.” She stated.
Ambassador Imane Ouadil noted that the influx of foreign students has been in the order of 4, 000 new students each year where Africans represent 63% of all entrants with the assumption of 95% as scholarship holders of the Moroccan government.
“I therefore want to commend the tremendous work done by the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation. you all know AMCI and its Director General, Ambassador Mohammed Methqal , who is working to broaden the fields of cooperation between Morocco and its sister African countries towards increasing the number of beneficiaries of international cooperation programmes in number and type . Thanks to these efforts we have managed since 2019 to educate an additional 20 scholarships for Ghanaian students for vocational training”, she noted.
“To underscore Morocco’s commitment to Africa and its youth ,I quote King Mohamed VI ‘S speech from 29th African Union Summit in 2017 when Morocco re-joined its institutional African Family . His Majesty said “the future of Africa depends on its youth; Africa’s young population underlines the urgency of orienting the demographic dividend towards the emergence of the continent. Africa, therefore has an unexpected opportunity to benefit from a young , educated and abundant workforce to fuel its economic growth”.
@Indeed Africa cannot be seen as a mere pool of opportunities. Africa needs to create and seize its own opportunities and generate its own wealth. I commend you, beneficiaries of Morocco government’s scholarship for stepping out of your comfort zone and moving to a new different country for years. While I hope the majority of your experience was enriching and exciting. I imagine there were also challenging days that made you nostalgic for home, for the nice Ghanaian dishes, yet you persevered. And when you returned to Ghana, you applied your experience in your respective fields to give back to your communities to make a difference” she said .
“I want to announce that we are currently processing the admission files of 97 Ghanaian candidates .that I hope will in a few years come back to contribute to the development of Ghana and to swell your ranks “, she added.