Marruecos apuesta por la innovación y la inversión en su industria

Casablanca hosted the Moroccan Industry Day, which highlighted the industrial revitalisation plan in various sectors proposed by the Moroccan kingdom under the directives of King Mohammed VI. Atalayar was able to talk to Mohammed Réda Lahmini, head of the Innovation Commission of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), to analyse the promising industrial and business outlook of the North African country. 

Mr Réda, as head of the CGEM's Innovation Commission, we would like to hear your views on innovation on the occasion of the Moroccan Industry Day.  

We have organised the National Industry Day, a very important event for the Moroccan economy, for Moroccan industry, and the CGEM, through all its components, commissions, region and parliamentary group, therefore, sets Moroccan industry among its priorities and the development of Moroccan industry among the priorities of today's entrepreneurs. It has been an opportunity to discuss various issues to make an assessment of the roadmap of the industry of these past years. We were pleased to have the message from His Majesty King Mohammed VI, who drew up a roadmap for Moroccan industry. So there are several projects that have been put on the list.

There is also the regional dimension of this Industry Day. So we will try to work together, capitalise on this day and draw up a roadmap based on His Majesty's orientations so that we can continue the work of developing Moroccan industry and achieving Morocco's industrial sovereignty.  

What are the sectors for an entrepreneur, for example, who wants to invest in Morocco, in which sectors do you think there is interesting innovation work today?  

Today, there are several strategic sectors, so in addition to the global sectors, i.e. aeronautics or the automotive industry, we are talking about energy, we are talking about agri-food, we are talking about logistics systems. We have also talked about the metallurgical industries, so there are several sectors that we have today with a view to having the opportunity to have this investment charter that has established the priority sectors to be able to benefit from all the advantages to accompany investors in their financing.

We have listened to the banks, especially after the objectives set by His Majesty at the opening of Parliament last October, which is to reach a private investment target of 550 billion dirhams by 2026, creating 500,000 jobs. I believe that today these are quantified objectives on which we will try to work together between the private and public sectors. 

An investor in a country always asks about the legal framework, the law, security and, as CGEM's representative in Parliament, what are the key points that you think will be developed in the future?  

Today Morocco is changing a lot, there are many projects. The current government is carrying out, despite the difficult national and international situation, many projects. In fact, the legal and fiscal framework is one of the key points, one of the key success factors to accompany the investor today, the fiscal aspect is very important.

We are fortunate to have a framework law on taxation that gives visibility over the next 5 years on the Moroccan tax system. We are working on it, even the CGEM parliamentary group is actively contributing to the deployment of this framework law on taxation through the various finance laws, together with the government. There is also the procedural aspect, the simplification of administrative procedures through digitalisation, which is also a determining factor in accompanying local and even foreign investors.