The energy company has stressed that the decision is preceded by the good situation of the North African country to invest in business

El grupo energético indio Samta invertirá en Marruecos más de 100 millones de dólares para el sector minero

REUTERS/YOUSSEF BOUDLAL - Phosphate mine 100 kilometres southwest of the city of Laayoune. The Indian energy group Samta will invest more than 100 million dollars in Morocco for the mining sector.

María Cerdán

Updated: 14/06/23

The Indian energy group Samta announced that it will invest more than $100 million in the mining sector over the next five years, according to the company's management. "We are committed to investing over $100 million over the next five years in the development of mining and mineral processing activities in Morocco," the company said in a statement.

This investment is a boost for Morocco's mining sector, which represents 6% of national GDP, with resources that have made the Alawi kingdom a leader in the production and export of phosphates, according to the head of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), Abdellah Muttaqqi.

This agreement follows the initiative of the Kingdom's embassy in New Delhi and a visit by the company's management to Morocco, where it met with the heads of the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investment and Exports (AMDIE). Precisely these two administrations are carrying out the project "Morocco Now" in India, which aims to promote Morocco as an investment opportunity, exposing the potential assets of the Kingdom.

The Indian company Samta has also alluded that this investment is due to the optimal climate developed in Morocco conducive to business and fast bureaucratic processes by the administration and authorities, especially in mining activities and renewable energy. "Our aim is to be a partner in improving the overall economic well-being with an emphasis on sustainability and transparency," stressed Samta Group CEO Purushottam Agrawal.

The investment to be made in Morocco over the next five years is expected to kick-start closer economic relations between Morocco and India. In doing so, Agrawal remarked that they hope "to have a long-term relationship with Morocco and to expand and diversify our investment in the future".

All this comes amidst thriving bilateral relations between Morocco and India, especially since October this year when a meeting was held between the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad and the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Subrahmanym Jiashankar. The meeting emphasised the momentum and dynamics between the two countries, and the two representatives congratulated each other on the relations between Rabat and New Delhi, which are expected to lead to investments such as those of the Samta group.

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