President of the Republic: I am firmly Convinced that Consultation and Dialogue are the best way to Manage Public Affairs and Deal with Major National Issues

HE President of the Republic Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazwani stressed the importance of organizing an inclusive national dialogue that addresses all issues of concern to the country, considering consultation and dialogue as the best way to manage public affairs and deal with major national issues.

In a speech delivered during an iftar banquet held Sunday evening at the Presidential Palace in Nouakchott in honor of members of the Supervisory Board of the Democratic Opposition Foundation, heads of national political parties and candidates for the last presidential elections, His Excellency said that he aspires today to organize a comprehensive dialogue that serves the citizen and achieves the supreme interest of the country, and enables the final resolution of fundamental issues that remain unresolved despite having been discussed in previous dialogues and despite the efforts exerted to resolve them.

This is the text of the President’s speech:

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his family and companions.

At the outset, I would like to thank this distinguished audience for honoring us with your presence at this Iftar.

On this occasion, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on the advent of the month of fasting, wishing God Almighty to grant us success in its fasting and observance, and to bring it back to us, you and the country with good fortune, peace and blessings.

As you know, I have met with all of you collectively and individually over the past few weeks, and I would like here again to thank you for the manner in which these meetings were conducted and the atmosphere that characterized them, whether collectively or individually.

In these meetings, we discussed the importance of organizing an inclusive national dialogue that addresses all issues of concern to the country. Like you, I am fully and firmly convinced that consultation and dialogue are the best way to manage public affairs and deal with major national issues.

Even if the country’s situation is fine, praise be to God, and the institutions of the Republic are functioning normally, which is the case of the country today, thank God, this does not prevent us from accepting dialogue and consultation, so that Mauritanians can agree on what they consider to be in the best interest of the country.

Based on my conviction of the importance of dialogue, I committed in my electoral program during the last presidential elections to organize it, firstly in response to a repeated demand expressed by various political forces, and secondly in an effort to resume the attempt launched in 2022 that unfortunately did not succeed.

Today, we aspire to organize a comprehensive dialogue that serves the citizen, achieves the supreme interest of the country, ensures the desired success, and enables the final resolution of fundamental issues that remain unresolved despite their deliberation in previous dialogues and despite the efforts made to resolve them.

Previous experiences of dialogues have taught us that good participatory preparation, without haste, and without hasty, pre-election dialogues, will be appropriate, successful, and a way to ensure the success of this process.

I believe that we must all work together to envision mechanisms to ensure the proper preparation of this dialogue.

In this context, and in an effort to crystallize a common vision for the preparatory phase of the dialogue, I look forward to reaching, in the coming days or weeks, the perceptions and proposals of the parties organizing the dialogue, while ensuring the representation of all, on the fundamental issues that we propose to discuss in the dialogue, the methodology that should be followed and adopted in order to ensure the success of the dialogue and the mechanisms for organizing it and following up the implementation of its outcomes. Any subject that you deem appropriate may be added to these four points.

In order to facilitate the centralization of the proposals of all parties and their formulation into a summary or draft that will, of course, be returned to all parties for further comments, I propose to you a national figure, Brother Moussa Fall, to play the role of a link between all parties and to remain in constant contact with everyone in this regard.

Finally, and once again, I thank you very much and may peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.”