“On the behest of the President of the Republic, the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Masséna NGALLE BIBEHE has been on a 3-day working visit to Morocco, which will end today July 19, 2023”.
During this working visit, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of the Republic of Cameroon and the Kingdom of Morocco, for the promotion of collaborative activities in the field of meteorology and climatology, was signed on July 18, 2023, by the Minister of Transport and the Moroccan Minister of Equipment and Water (in charge of Meteorology), Nizar BARAKA.
This Memorandum of Understanding establishes a new stage in cooperation ties between the two countries and is essentially based on areas relating to weather forecasts; climatology, observation system and its optimization, calibration instruments, information and telecommunications system, databases and capacity building.
In prelude to this ceremony held at the Moroccan Ministry of Equipment and Water, the Moroccan Minister granted audience to his Cameroonian colleague who was accompanied by the Cameroonian Ambassador to Morocco.
In a statement to the press, Minister Jean Ernest Masséna NGALLE BIBEHE expressed his profound gratitude to the King of Morocco and the Head of State of Cameroon, who gave the go-ahead for this cooperation. He noted: “Africa faces many challenges including extreme weather occurrences, which have a growing negative impact on the sustainable development of the continent. Indeed, most countries on the continent are prone to floods, droughts and heat waves, which lead to loss of lives and significant material damage. To deal with this situation, meteorological services must be able, more than ever, to provide early warnings allowing decision-makers to take rapid and appropriate action.” He ended by expressing the wish to see this cooperation lead to convincing results which will be reflected in better access of populations and decision-makers to quality meteorological information.
For Minister Nizar BARAKA, meteorology occupies a pivotal place within the Ministry of Equipment and Water, as it plays an important role in the fields of forecasts and anticipation of extreme meteorological phenomena in a Moroccan context impacted by climate change and water stress in particular. To this effect, he noted that considerable efforts have been made by the Kingdom to develop its meteorological system, particularly the weather alert.
Following this working visit, the Minister of Transport was received by his Moroccan counterpart in charge of Transport and Logistics, Mohammed Abdeljalille. At the end of this audience, the two Ministers disclosed to the press that they reviewed the state of cooperation between the two countries in the sub-sectors of rail, road, air and sea; and they intend to intensify this cooperation through concrete actions.
The Minister of Transport ended the second day working visit with a stopover at Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology in Casablanca. At different stages, the Minister grabbed understanding on the Moroccan know-how in the field of meteorology.
CELCOM/MINT
