A delegation composed of Senegalese mayors, civil society actors, women leaders, experts, and journalists recently paid a visit to the Ibn Tofaïl University in Kénitra, where they were received by the president of the establishment, Azzedine El Midaoui, accompanied by teachers and heads of the various university departments. This visit, organised by the Network of Actors Carrying Initiatives for Economic and Social Development (RAPIDES), allowed the Senegalese delegation to learn about the progress made by the Moroccan university, particularly in the fields of research, engineering, and new technologies.

The youngest mayor in Senegal, Modou Sow, 26, at the head of the Ngandiouf commune in the Thiès region, stressed on this occasion that this visit illustrated the relations of fraternity and friendship linking the Moroccan and Senegalese peoples. "This visit allowed me to discover the rich Moroccan experience in the field of local management and governance from which we can draw inspiration," he declared. According to a statement from RAPIDES, the visit to Morocco by this delegation, composed of nearly 35 members, aims to strengthen networking between government actors, territorial decision-makers, civil society, and research institutes of the two countries, with a view to identifying the main areas of cooperation to be developed between Morocco and Senegal in terms of management, planning, and preservation of resources at the level of cities and communes. For her part, Soukeyna Touré, president of RAPIDES International, specified that this visit to Ibn Tofaïl University was an opportunity to discuss possibilities for exchanging experiences between university officials in Kénitra and officials of Senegalese local authorities.

It should be recalled that RAPIDES of Senegal has the missions of social development in the sub-region and the strengthening of cooperation and partnership between economic, educational, and associative actors in Senegal and their counterparts abroad.