Three hundred experts gathered in Rabat on January 29, 2026 to build the roadmap for a sustainable blue Africa
The Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco and the association La Saison Bleue are organizing, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the 3rd meeting of the colleges of experts of the ABC/Africa Blue Compass. In person as well as online, more than three hundred African and international experts will meet on January 29, 2026 at the Academy’s headquarters in Rabat.
Launched at the Africa for the Ocean Summit (3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, Nice, June 2025) and the first three editions of the Blue Africa Summit (Tangier), this initiative aims to provide the continent with a real strategic oceanic compass intended to better govern, protect and enhance its maritime areas.
For Abdeljalil Lahjomri, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, « the ABC is intended to offer the African continent a common strategic framework to transform the ocean into a lever of sovereignty, sustainable development and cooperation in the service of the prosperity of populations« .
While the blue economy is experiencing major global growth, many African countries remain facing structural challenges: a lack of scientific knowledge of their exclusive economic zones, high exposure to climate change, increased pressures on marine biodiversity, threats to maritime security and still limited economic impact from coastal tourism or major blue roads, whether maritime trade, submarine cables or energy connectivity.
In the wake of the African Union’s Ocean Strategy, the ABC proposes to support coastal and landlocked states of the continent in the definition of public policies, investment projects and regional cooperation mechanisms around the ocean. Pascal Lamy, co-president of the Africa-Europe Strategic Group on the Ocean, thus stresses that « the ABC embodies a new Africa-Europe dynamic at the service of strengthened governance of the ocean and a blue, profitable and inclusive economy« .
The ABC/Africa Bue Compass is built by four colleges of experts – governance/territories, science/innovation, education/civil society, economy/finance – bringing together public decision-makers, researchers, representatives of the world of economics and non-governmental organizations. Their work aims in particular to map maritime opportunities, encourage the emergence of ocean-related projects and structure a pan-African network of expertise on the blue economy.
This 3rd meeting of the ABC expert colleges marks a strategic step in the process. It will make it possible to gather, cross-see and consolidate many contributions and speed up the drafting of the operational roadmap.
For Rym Benzina, president of La Saison Bleue, « the ABC will be, on an African scale, the first tool for expertise, maritime engineering and cooperation between continent actors and international partners ».
The ABC/Africa Blue Compass will be officially presented on November 26, 2026 in Tangier during the 4th edition of the Blue Africa Summit.
soirée : la saison bleue
