During this emotionally charged ceremony, Hachimi Idrissi’s “rich and exceptional” media career, as well as his valuable contributions to the development of the national media field and the promotion of Lionism at the regional and international levels were celebrated.
Lions Club International president Brian Sheehan also honored Hachimi Idrissi, who is also the Global Leadership Team (GLT) coordinator for District 416 Morocco, with the International president’s medal in recognition of his unwavering commitment to the promotion of Lionism and service to Lion communities.
In a moving and inspiring testimony, Moukite Abdou, former governor of District 416 Morocco, noted that Hachimi Idrissi has always shown great loyalty, noting that his commitment, support and sincerity command respect.
“His benevolence, sympathy and warm courtesy manifest a feeling of affection and an incomparable emotional relationship. Hachimi Idrissi has a lot of empathy and he is always there for others,” he said, stressing that he had the chance to know him in the 90s, upon his return to Morocco and since the 1st day, he discovered a man of great culture, a man of letters and a great journalist.
Moukite presented the milestones of Hachimi Idrissi’s singular professional career, stating that in the early 1980s he was one of the actors in the creation and development of intercultural and community communication in France, where he collaborated in several radio stations.
Upon his return to Morocco, he was a columnist, reporter and then Editor-in-Chief for many years of Maroc Hebdo International, before launching the French daily Aujourd’hui Le Maroc (2001), he added, stressing that Hachimi Idrissi has a lucid, fair and very formidable pen.
“He values others and does not take credit for their ideas. He advocates above all excellence and does not accept any tolerance for mediocrity,” he insisted, affirming that Hachimi Idrissi does not use the freedom of the press in a self-interested intention, and has all the qualities required to be an excellent journalist: curiosity, rigor, responsiveness, adaptation, listening, benevolence and empathy are added to a spirit of synthesis, a solid general culture, a good level of French language, as well as a sense of contact.
Moukite recalled that Hachimi Idrissi was also president of the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers and the jury of the National Press Award (2007) and is president and Grand Officer of the Companions of Gutenberg-Morocco, president of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA) and Director General of MAP, noting that he takes his mission as head of institutional information to heart to engage the Agency in all kinds of new media, while allowing it to demonstrate creativity.
Writer and poet, Khalil Hachimi Idrissi has to his credit several books and collections of poetry, namely “Billets Bleus, chroniques marocaines 1994-2000” published in 2005 by Eddif, “A la conquête de rien” published in 2011 by the Croisée des chemins, and the collection of poems “Subterfuges ou les détours des rimes rebelles”, in 2012 published by Zanzibar and another entitled “La foi n’est convoquée que les jours de fête”, published in 2017 by La Croisée des chemins, he added.
Moukite also praised Hachimi Idrissi for his commitment to social action within the framework of Lions Clubs International, noting that “since the first day of his induction into the Club, he has plunged us into the heart of social action, with a true commitment to solidarity with others, with the weakest, most exposed and most deprived segments of the population”.
“He has truly dedicated a great deal of his life to Lionism,” he said, noting that he has overcome obstacles and risen through the ranks from club president of Casa Doyen to zone president, then region president and then governor of district 416 Morocco in 2010.
“Khalil Hachimi Idrissi shined when he was appointed GLT Leader. He has put in place a strategy to quantitatively and qualitatively develop the future leaders of the District and to improve the influence of the lions at the regional and international levels,” he concluded.
In a statement to MAP TV channel M24, the governor of the Lions District 416 Morocco, Tarik Moudni, said that Hachimi Idrissi, member of the Lions Club for more than 15 years, has done a lot for this movement and deserves this tribute and this distinction which is awarded to him by the president of the Lions Club International”, specifying that “all the great achievements that have been made by the organization bear his imprint”.
