On the behest of the President of the Republic, the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Masséna NGALLE BIBEHE has been on a 3-day working visit to Morocco, from July 17 to 19, 2023.
During this working visit, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Governments of the Republic of Cameroon and the Kingdom of Morocco, for the promotion of collaborative activities in the field of Meteorology and Climatology, was signed on 18 July 2023 by the Minister of Transport and his Moroccan counterpart, Minister of Equipment and Water (in charge of Meteorology), Mr. Nizar BARAKA.
This Memorandum of Understanding, which establishes a new stage in the relations of cooperation between the two countries, is essentially based on areas relating to weather forecasts, climatology, the observation system and its optimization, calibration of instruments, information system and telecommunications, databases and capacity building.
In prelude to this ceremony held at the Moroccan Ministry of Equipment and Water, the Moroccan Minister granted audience to his Cameroonian colleague who was accompanied by the Cameroonian Ambassador to Morocco.
Then, in his statement to the press, Mr. Jean Ernest Masséna NGALLE BIBEHE expressed his deep and deferential gratitude to the King of Morocco and the Head of State of Cameroon who kindly gave the anointing for this cooperation. He noted that “Africa faces many challenges including extreme weather events, which have a growing negative impact on the sustainable development of the continent.
Indeed, most countries on the continent are prone to floods, droughts and heat waves, which lead to loss of life and significant material damage. To deal with this situation, meteorological services must be able, more than ever, to provide early warnings allowing decision-makers to take rapid and appropriate action”. He ended by expressing the wish to see this cooperation lead to convincing results that will translate into better access for populations and decision-makers to quality meteorological information.
For Minister Nizar BARAKA, meteorology occupies a pivotal place within the Ministry of Equipment and Water, as it plays an important role in the fields of forecasts and anticipation of extreme meteorological phenomena in a Moroccan context impacted by climate change and water stress in particular.
To this end, considerable efforts have been made by the Kingdom to develop its meteorological system, in particular the weather alert which will serve as an important tool in the development of public policies to deal with the risks associated with extreme climatic phenomena.
Following his working visit, the Minister of Transport was received by his Moroccan colleague in charge of Transport and Logistics Mr. Mohammed Abdeljalille. At the end of this audience, it emerged from the statements made by the two Ministers to the press that they reviewed the state of cooperation between the two countries in the sub-sectors of rail, road, air and sea. The two Ministers intend to intensify this cooperation through concrete actions.
The Minister of Transport ended the second day working visit with a stopover at Morocco's General Directorate of Meteorology in Casablanca. At different stages, the Minister grabbed understanding on the Moroccan know-how in the field of meteorology.
