Noussaira El Harrak: "Our goal is to raise awareness of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, its territorial offer and its business opportunities"

After passing through Casablanca, Barcelona and Seville, the event "Doing Business in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Region" arrived in Valencia to present the great offer for investment that the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Region in the north of Morocco offers to Spanish investors, and in this case, Valencian investors.  

After the end of the first of the panels of the "Doing Business" event, organised in Valencia by the Regional Investment Centre of the Region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Atalayar had the honour of talking to the speaker Noussaira El Harrak, head of Project, Territorial Offer and Promotion of the CRI-TTA, who explained the great territorial offer in terms of investment in this Moroccan enclave and what this type of event entails. 

Mrs. El Harrak, another "Doing Business", Casablanca, Barcelona, Seville... I believe that this type of event proves to be very necessary to publicise all the facilities for investing in the region of Tangiers, Tetouan and Al Hoceima. 

Exactly, and that is our objective. Our objective is that, to publicise our region, the territorial offer we have, the business opportunities, all the mechanisms and incentives available to our region. We have come this time with many and various economic leaders from the entire investment ecosystem, to offer and present all the necessary information to entrepreneurs and interested parties. 

The Valencian entrepreneurs we were able to talk to were grateful, and a little surprised, about the advantages, about what is on offer right now; moreover, the CRI-TTA website explains the bureaucratic facilities, the possibility of being able to set up a company in a short period of time. Are these facilities fundamental? 

Exactly, and that is our aim, the reason why we have come to Valencia: to show them and encourage them to come, so that they know what Tangiers, Tetouan and Al Hoceima have to offer, the services that the Regional Investment Centre provides to investors. 

The support, the advice from start to finish, that they know that they can do everything digitally, that it is a very easy process and very short term; that they can do it, apart from all the tax advantages offered by the Moroccan State to entrepreneurs. And also, something very important, in the CRI, in the world of investment, we treat national and international investors in the same way: they are asked for the same documentation and it is the same process. 

Now, the organisation of the 2030 football World Cup, apart from the Africa Cup next year, football, in that sense, Mrs El Harrak, is also opening up many possibilities, creating many expectations in Morocco... 

Exactly. In fact, we have just shown the sports city in Tangiers, the largest in Africa, with a stadium that will hold 85,000 spectators and which respects the standards required by FIFA. We also have another sports city in Al Hoceima. They are ready to welcome tourists and sports fans.  

As far as tourism is concerned, we are already preparing. There are 64 hotels in the process of opening at the moment to give us an extra capacity of 10,000 beds, in addition to the more than 35,000 we have now. We are increasingly increasing the number of openings.   

And, if I may say, as I have seen for myself, good business, but also good quality of life, i.e. schools, security, sports, gastronomy, culture, and so on. The Tangiers-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region is very rich in this respect. 

It has a Mediterranean climate, an exceptional quality of life, thanks to 470 kilometres of coastline, Mediterranean Sea and Ocean, both. Moroccan cuisine is among the best in the world, exquisite. And then there are schools for investors who want to settle here. There are four Spanish schools in Tangiers, Al Hoceima, Larache and Tetouan. There is an American School, we have a British school and French missions for their children. 

Apart from a very qualified workforce, a very interesting human capital, since most of them are Spanish-speaking. Therefore, there is no problem at all for a Spanish businessman coming to the region, because the educational staff knows the Spanish language perfectly. 

And another very important thing, health. The large university hospital inaugurated a few months ago by His Majesty King Mohammed VI makes the health care in the whole region of excellent quality. 

Apart from the university hospital that has just opened, the largest in Africa, there is another hospital in Tetouan that is almost ready to open, and another in Al Hoceima. 

In that sense, any investor and any tourist has a guaranteed quality of life in the region. And if you were in front of me as a potential investor, how would you convince me for what the experts call the "elevator pitch"?

I would encourage you to visit the region directly, to discover it for yourself, to see what we have to offer. You have to see it to believe it, you have to see it because we have a lot to offer and we are there waiting to advise you and support you from the first day you set foot in the region until the day you start your project.   

And the people are better and better trained. 

Exactly.