Comment: Success All Along the Line

Beyond the strong tradition of excellent relations between Mauritania and Europe and the foundation of trust and solidarity that underpins them, the visit to Brussels of His Excellency the President of the Republic is amply justified by his agenda and the interest in the issues on the Global Gateway agenda which constitute real challenges for humanity.

This visit will, therefore, not have served the sole purpose of protocol decorum but it resulted in a strong presence of Mauritania whose voice and that of the entire African continent were carried by a man whose wisdomis recognized and leadership established.

At the Global Gateway, Panel on the energy transition and green hydrogen which has just been held in Brussels, the President of the Republic did not deviate from his habit of defending in all forums the sustainability of development in general and the environmental issues in the service of a more low-carbon world, calling for the mobilization of the necessary financial resources, the scaling of technology, and the construction of appropriate infrastructure for this purpose.

It demonstrated its high sense of responsible governance when it circumscribed the trajectory of rapid industrialization of the country in an approach of taking into account the interest of humanity which makes the reduction of annual greenhouse gas emissions

a national strategic objective.

The visit revealed itself to be active diplomacy and fair advocacy for the development of Mauritania’s enormous potential in renewable energies to make the country a future green hydrogen hub of international dimension.

The President in Office of the G-5 Sahel countries, the Mauritanian President, carried more than just the voice of the country or the region, that of the entire African continent when he declared: “in the great race for green hydrogen, we must

prevent history from repeating itself and Africa from being, once again, left behind”, before he calls on the Global Gateway initiative to help ensure that Africa occupies a position that meets its needs and its enormous potential through sustainable and reliable connections serving Africans.

As with his often-reiterated calls for the cancellation of the African debt, the President of the Republic insisted that the 300 billion euros planned by the Global Gateway investment over the period 2021-2027 in the countries’ transport and connectivity infrastructure should be primarily oriented toward Africa, which is lagging considerably behind in these areas.

The visit to Brussels was also punctuated by intense activities of the President who had high-level meetings with the top officials of the European Union, notably the head of EU foreign policy, the European commissioners for

energy and international partnerships, a delegation of European businessmen as well as the director of operations of the World Bank.

It was the manifestation of effective diplomacy expressed at the top of the State by a man who embodies the signal virtues and inspires the respect and confidence of his peers, and who therefore has all the latitude to better represent and negotiate betterthrough proactive diplomacy in tune with the times and its challenges.The visit was especially fruitful with the signing of two documents with the President of the European Commission, the first relating to support for the development of the necessary infrastructure in Mauritania to enable the production, transport and marketing of green hydrogen,and encourage the creation of decent job opportunities, particularly for young people, support the private sector and improve the environment for entrepreneurship.

The second document concerns a 2024 action plan with a significant funding envelope which will allow the implementation of all development financing within the framework of the new Neighborhood, Development and International Cooperation instrument (NDICI).

). Suffice to say that on both political and diplomatic levels and in terms of concrete results, the visit of the President of the Republic will have been a success across the board.

Mauritanian Information Agency