This edition, held from October 16 to November 5, under the High Patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, at the initiative of the Assilah Forum Foundation, in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication (Department of Culture) and the commune of Assilah, will be marked by the organization of seven symposia as part of the 36th edition of the Open University Al-Mu’tamid Ibn Abbad and artistic and cultural activities.
In an address read on his behalf at the opening ceremony of this event, held at the Library Prince Bandar Ben Sultan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Nasser Bourita, stressed that the Moussem of Assilah has achieved a dazzling and unprecedented success over several decades, with a renewed influence, without being affected by the factors of “historical erosion” that have ravaged the ideologies, reshaped the societies and dismantled economic systems and thought, since the seventies until today.
Bourita noted that this “success story” that lasted 43 years has made the Moussem of Assilah a mecca of culture and thought, and a space for constructive collective reflection on current and recurring challenges, in an intelligent harmony and according to a perceptive and professional vision, through which the Moussem has become a platform for cultural and intellectual exchange of high level and a model compared to other cultural events.
He said that the special attention given by this edition to the issue of “separatist movements and regional organizations in Africa” reflects the renewed importance of this Forum, noting that the security challenges currently facing the African continent are, for the most part, unprecedented and unpredictable, and continue to grow and expand.
For his part, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, said the Moussem of Assilah has become, over the years, a space of choice to discuss humanitarian issues and regional and international challenges, which are becoming increasingly complex, noting that the Forum, thanks to the participation of eminent personalities from the worlds of thought, culture, politics and economics from different countries, has accompanied several changes that the world has experienced, through the presentation and diagnosis of facts, warning against risks, and proposing solutions and alternatives.
In a speech read on his behalf, Bensaid stressed that the forum has always invoked the depth of culture and art in the promotion of relations between peoples, believing that conflicts and hostility come from ignorance, and that the light of knowledge, culture and arts is able to overcome this ignorance, in favor of security, stability and welfare of humanity.
Secretary General of the Assilah Forum Foundation, Mohamed Benaissa, commended the attachment that is free of personal designs which has always been an essential source of energy and firm moral support for the Moussem, like the constant support, the uninterrupted High Patronage and the special attention that HM King Mohammed VI gives to culture and arts in general, and to the world cultural event of Assilah in particular.
Benaissa said that the inaugural symposium of this edition “will continue the debate on the relationship between us who belong to this common geographical space, questioning the political reality in which we live, as well as the future towards which we aspire.”
Raky Talla Diarra, member and vice president of the National Transitional Council of Mali, highlighted the role of the Moussem of Assilah in the treatment of current issues affecting the African continent, with the aim of providing sustainable solutions, noting that the theme chosen for the 1st symposium of this edition, namely “Separatist movements and regional organizations in Africa”, is topical in Africa and around the world, given the challenges related to the security, social and diplomatic crises that the world is currently facing.
For Jean Claude Felix Tchicaya, researcher at the Institute for European perspective and Security (IPSE), the Moussem of Assilah is a place of meeting and exchange around several issues of regional and international interest, adding that the promotion of culture, art and democracy will contribute, without doubt, to fighting separatist movements and establishing peace and stability in the world.
