El Aaiún acoge el Foro Empresarial Marruecos-Emiratos Árabes Unidos

The region of El Ayoun is hosting the Morocco-United Arab Emirates (UAE) Business Forum under the theme "A new perspective, new partnerships". According to the official news agency MAP, this event aims to promote the region among Emirati economic operators and support them in terms of investment, partnerships and trade.

The forum is organised by the Regional Council of Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra and the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investment and Exports (AMDIE). The event, in addition to showcasing the good relations between the UAE and the Alawi kingdom, aims to explore new investment partnerships between the Moroccan and Emirati private and public sectors in the fields of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, mining, renewable energy, construction and tourism.

This meeting was marked by the organisation of several thematic panels and workshops in which Moroccan and Emirati experts and businessmen discussed the assets and needs of the local market in key sectors such as high value-added industry, agriculture and marine fisheries, logistics and transport, as well as green energy.

During the opening of this meeting, the governor of the province of Laayoune, Mohamed Lamin Malyud, stressed the UAE's unconditional and historical support for the issue of Morocco's territorial integrity, recalling that the UAE has expressed this position with the opening in November 2020 of the Consulate General in the province of Laayoune.

The UAE thus became the first non-African Arab country to open a Consulate in the southern provinces of the Kingdom, recalling that the UAE thus joined the 15 African countries that have already opened diplomatic representations in the two main cities of Western Sahara: Laayoune and Dakhla, in less than a year. The UAE has become one of the North African country's main economic partners.

For his part, the president of the regional council, Sidi Hamdi Ould Errachid, pointed out that the inauguration of the UAE Consulate General in Laayoune was a new boost to bilateral political, economic, commercial and cultural ties. He also said that the organisation of this forum reflected the firm determination of this Arab country to contribute to the dynamics of development currently being experienced in the region.

The Consul General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in El Ayoun, Issa Al-Balushi, stressed, during his speech at the opening of this forum, the determination of his country to commit itself to the development process of the southern provinces of the kingdom, according to Bladi. For his part, the Secretary General of the UAE International Investors Council (UAEIIC), Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, highlighted the tangible effects of strengthening trade and economic ties on the bilateral strategic partnership.