France-Morocco Business Forum: great opportunities for economic momentum
The Confédération Générale des Entreprises du Maroc (CGEM) and the Mouvement des Entreprises de France International are joining forces for the socio-economic development of Morocco and France, at a time when relations between the two countries are enjoying great progress.
The one-day event will address the exploration of new opportunities in the face of energy and food crises; and "Made in Morocco", which is a programme based on the search for new opportunities related to location and the reconfiguration of value chains.
Questions such as what are the development challenges for agriculture and agro-industry to strengthen food security? will be answered at an event that promises to enhance the good relations that the two states have recently resumed in depth.
The health and environmental crises pose new challenges for ensuring access to energy and maintaining the urgency of the energy transition in line with the objectives of traditional knowledge. Ensuring food security and coordinating agricultural and agro-industrial policies is increasingly urgent and requires joint action.
New energy development programme for sustainability
Morocco has new opportunities to develop energy generation from both transitional energies such as gas and energies of the future such as green hydrogen. It can therefore contribute to a strategic response to the European Union's energy needs. From this perspective, Morocco's combination of wind and solar energy resources and its vast available land resources position it as a major global player in the green hydrogen sector.
These assets can be used in an effective partnership framework between France and Morocco, encompassing various value-added chains, such as renewable energy sources, desalination plants, electrolysis plants and industrial plants for the products purchased. The Nigeria-Morocco gas project, which will connect 13 African countries, could also create a new Southern Stream gas supply corridor for the European Union, promoting greater economic and industrial integration between Europe and the southern Mediterranean coast.
Agricultural commodity inflation and supply disruption due to the Ukrainian crisis imply profound reformulations and accelerations of the agenda related to agricultural policies and industrial integration. Therefore, water management is now a crucial parameter, increasingly determining the direction of future national agricultural policies in a continent experiencing strong demographic growth.
In this context, soil productivity will have to be optimised and adapted to environments under double water and demographic stress, while preserving prices accessible to consumers and balances linked to sustainable development. Moreover, industrial integration is an essential issue in a logic of increasing added value, creating local jobs and preserving national currencies.
In this respect, complementarity between French and Moroccan actors should make it possible to accelerate current initiatives. Finally, support for the farmer - financing, training, expertise and their harmonious integration into the global value chain of agro-industrial actors is essential in terms of quality and sustainability of crops, but also in a logic of sustainable social and financial inclusion.
Participants and Programme
The event which starts at 14:00 will last 6 hours and is divided into 5 parts: openness, seizing new opportunities in the face of energy and food crises, "Made in Morocco": new opportunities related to co-location and the reconfiguration of value chains, training and digitisation, key levers of development and closing.
Key participants include the co-presidents of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France International, Mohamed el Kettani and Ross McInnes and Chakib Alj, president of the CGEM and Mohamed Bachiri, president and CEO of Renault Tangier, recently appointed president of the Royal Automobile Club Marocain.
Diplomatic representation will be provided by Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Economy and Finance of Morocco, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty of the French Republic, Mohamed Sadiki, Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests of Morocco and Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty of the French Republic.
Other speakers include Aymane Taud, Chairman and CEO of Nareva Holding, Thierry Saegeman, Deputy Managing Director of Transformation and Geographies at ENGIE, Mustapha Terrab, Chairman and CEO of the OCP Group, Jean-Philippe Puig, CEO of the AVRIL Group, Mohammed Benhayoun, Managing Director of the Mohammed VI Investment Fund, Ross Mcinnes, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Safran, Ayman Cheikh Lahlou, CEO of Cooper Morocco, Jean-Yves Gal, Director for Africa of the Servier Group, Ghita Lahlou, Director of the Central School of Casablanca and Administrator of Saham Finance, Laurent Choain, Director of Leadership, Education and Culture of MAZARS, Mohamed Horani, Chairman and CEO of HPS, and Alpha Barry, CEO of Africa ATOS.