British envoy highlights Morocco's potential for trade relations with UK
The British Prime Minister's Special Trade Envoy to Morocco, Rob Butler, highlighted, during his visit to Rabat, the undeniable potential available in Morocco for the growth of trade links between the North African country and the UK.
- Collaboration makes bilateral trade grow
- The Moroccan and British governments are committed to trade and investment
- Official visits: exchanging experiences and exploring opportunities
The British minister's first visit to Morocco shed light on the role that the Moroccan economic fabric can play in the development of trade links with the UK in several areas, with green energy offering a huge field of promising investments for both parties.
Collaboration makes bilateral trade grow
According to Butler's statement to the press, bilateral trade between Morocco and the UK amounted to almost £3.5 billion last year. This reflects the potential opportunities that exist between the two countries.
"London and Rabat enjoy an extremely important relationship marked by strong commercial potential," Butler said, noting that "trade can serve as a catalyst for societal progress and the creation of wealthy nations as well as economic development".
Butler's visit to Rabat and his talks with Nasser Bourita, Morocco's foreign minister, demonstrate the UK's desire to deepen its economic connections with the Alawi kingdom, especially in the areas of trade and investment.
In this regard, the British official explored the prospects for collaboration in a variety of fields, including infrastructure, aerospace, health, agriculture and education.
M. Nasser Bourita a reçu, aujourd'hui à Rabat, l'Envoyé Spécial du Premier ministre britannique pour le Commerce au Maroc, M. Rob Butler.@RobBAylesbury pic.twitter.com/1s3KNnPXYP
— Maroc Diplomatie 🇲🇦 (@MarocDiplomatie) February 29, 2024
The Moroccan and British governments are committed to trade and investment
Prior to his visit, Butler expressed his willingness to "work closely with the Moroccan government to boost bilateral trade and investment to generate jobs, achieve economic growth and create commercial opportunities for Moroccan and British companies".
Meanwhile, the British Embassy underlined, in an earlier statement, the importance of Morocco as a relevant trading partner; noting that Rabat aims to consolidate its cooperation with all stakeholders at various levels.
Official visits: exchanging experiences and exploring opportunities
Butler's visit came just days after the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), the UK government agency in charge of infrastructure and major projects, visited Morocco on 19 February to discuss possible partnerships on infrastructure development projects.
The main mission of this UK delegation to Morocco was to gain an in-depth understanding of the Moroccan government's aims and objectives when it comes to the development of infrastructure projects.
Both the meetings held and the workshops organised during this visit were an occasion for both sides to facilitate the exchange of experiences in infrastructure and major project development.
Analysing the different priorities and challenges in Morocco was an important point that serves to find the best methods to develop affordable services and sustainable infrastructure.
This type of visit is an opportunity to benefit from the IPA's long experience in quality infrastructure. As well as learning from UK best practice in attracting capital and expertise from the public and private sectors.
It is worth noting that these meetings are timely as Rabat is preparing to introduce several major projects and reforms to the country's infrastructure for the 2030 World Cup and the 2025 Africa Cup.
