Assahafa.com
Morocco aims for greater leverage of AI to ensure global reach, solidarity, and co-development under the Royal Vision for South-South cooperation, said Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale.
In an address at the launch of the “AI Made in Morocco” project on Monday in Rabat, Ambassador Hilale highlighted that this new Moroccan initiative is a bold and forward-looking response that can resonate beyond national borders and position Morocco as a continental digital hub.
The event brought together private and public-sector stakeholders, as well as international start-ups from the digital realm to tackle the entire value chain of AI, from research and infrastructure to financing and investment.
In Ambassador Hilale’s view, this initiative is built around three clear pillars that could reshape the Kingdom’s place on the global technological stage. The first is based on sovereign AI, as the national cloud established in 2025, he noted, ensures that the country’s data remains under Moroccan control.
This decision, he said, protects against external risks and offers African countries an alternative to dependence on major foreign firms. The diplomat sees in this the early signs of a distinctly Moroccan digital soft power.
The second pillar emphasizes cooperative, multidisciplinary solidarity, in line with the High Guidelines of His Majesty the King, noted Hilale. Morocco provides solutions tailored to local realities to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals within a framework of South-South solidarity.
“With the North, concrete North-South partnerships are multiplying, including the agreement with Mistral AI to process Arabic and its dialects, the launch of the R&D center, the center of excellence with Onepoint, strengthened collaboration with Oracle and Huawei, advanced discussions with OpenAI, and the recent decision by Nvidia giving Morocco priority for its Africa business plan,” he explained.
Another avenue for Morocco’s AI initiatives is triangular cooperation, combining Northern expertise with Moroccan skills for the benefit of Southern countries, supported by international and regional organizations such as the UN, he pointed out.
The third pillar involves diplomacy, he added, noting that the “AI Made in Morocco” label has become a banner in multilateral forums, where Morocco co-chairs the UN Friends Group on AI for Sustainable Development, leads the Coalition on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Africa’s Development, and chairs the UN General Assembly High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation.
Within this context, the ambassador highlighted the global technological landscape, where AI is rapidly industrializing, recalling that private investments are already projected to exceed $202 billion by 2025.
“Computational models are reaching unprecedented scales. Yet this race remains dominated by a few powers: 60% of talent is concentrated in the United States. China controls the majority of patents and raw materials. Africa, with only 2% of global data centers and 1.5% of investments, is still largely lagging behind,” he detailed.
According to Ambassador Hilale, the “AI Made in Morocco” model could make the Kingdom a recognized reference for ethical and inclusive AI, adapted to the realities of a continent seeking decentralized and sovereign solutions.
Source: map
