Rabat, 7 November 2018: A delegation from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation joined the Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research in organizing the first edition of the Morocco-Wallonia-Brussels Academic Forum under the theme “Prospects for a Strengthened and Innovative Academic Partnership”.
The event was co-chaired by the higher education ministers of the two countries, Mr. Saaïd Amzazi and Mr. Jean-Claude Marcourt. Participants included university presidents, deans and directors of faculties and higher education institutions, academic administrators and representatives from the two Ministries of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research in Morocco and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
The event served as a platform for discussion, exchange and sharing of expertise and best practices. Its main objective was to examine different means and mechanisms for developing cooperation and opening up new perspectives for academic and scientific partnerships between the two parties. The two working sessions of the forum concluded with the signing of an agreement setting recommendations to be implemented in the coming years.
Morocco and Belgium, particularly the French speaking Wallonia-Brussels Federation, maintain a strong friendship due to historical, political and economic ties. A relationship that has been further strengthened in recent years in the field of higher education and scientific research.
On 26 October 1999, the signature of the cooperation agreement between the Government of Morocco and the Government of Wallonia-Brussels Federation resulted in the creation of a Joint Cooperation Commission that meets every three years and the launch of a three-year cooperation program, as well as the creation of the permanent General Delegation of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in Morocco in 1999. This first edition of the Academic Forum between Morocco and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation is boosting a new impetus into relations of partnership and cooperation between the two parties in the field of higher education and scientific research.