A single industrial platform "from Vigo to Dakhla"
Taking advantage of the "Moroccan Momentum", discovering the new Moroccan business reality and meeting the protagonists of the most attractive sectors for the Hispanic investor in Morocco were some of the invitations of the main authorities at the Spain-Morocco business meeting held in Casablanca.
Today there is greater interest from Spanish companies to consolidate their investments in the Moroccan platform and there is also interest from Moroccan investors to invest in Spain, said Ryad Mezzour, Morocco's Minister of Industry and Trade. "A unique, dynamic and competitive platform that can conquer the world. From Vigo to Dakhla", concluded the Moroccan minister.
All the speakers at the opening of the forum to take the pulse of business between Spain and Morocco agreed on one thing: this is the third bilateral business meeting in the last five months. Unequivocal proof that something is moving on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Morocco's Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, told Atalayar that Morocco offers many complementary advantages to Spanish investors and highlighted the privileged access to export to the United States thanks to a free trade agreement. "The Spanish investor who comes to Morocco comes to a complementary country for the Spanish industrial platform, there are many things to gain here, such as competitiveness," Mezzour added.
The Spanish Ambassador to Morocco, Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner, referred to a bilateral acceleration in the economic field and reminded the Moroccan businessmen that Spain is the fourth largest economy in the European Union.
The president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Businesses (CGEM), Chakib Alj, put the number of Spanish companies established in Morocco at around a thousand, and acknowledged the reputation of Spanish companies in the development of quality infrastructures, and in the construction of reservoirs and desalination plants. For the head of the Moroccan employers' association, the business opportunities between the two countries are endless.
For her part, Xiana Méndez, Spain's Secretary of State for Trade, insisted on the current acceleration and set the increase in trade so far this year at 15% compared to 2022. Méndez highlighted the capacity for integration of the value chain on a regional level as a very important point to bear in mind and that it is a good time to take advantage of the favourable environment for Spanish-Moroccan business.
Acto de inauguración del Encuentro Empresarial 🇪🇸🇲🇦 que reúne a empresas españolas y marroquíes para identificar oportunidades de inversión y cooperación empresarial.
— Secretaría de Estado de Comercio (@SE_Comercio) June 7, 2023
👉Con la participación de Xiana Méndez @SE_Comercio y el ministro de Comercio e Industria 🇲🇦, Ryad Mezzour. pic.twitter.com/kUTNvai38G
Méndez stressed that Morocco forms part of all the internationalisation plans drawn up by the Secretary of State for Trade.
Around 60 Spanish companies attended the event from Spain to find Moroccan partners or to establish investment channels in different sectors. To this end, the meeting organised two panels to present the necessary context for tackling strategies in the North African country: "Spain-Morocco: towards a consolidated economic partnership" and "Financing investment in Morocco".
Spanish and Moroccan companies were able to deepen their field of action thanks to the specific workshops created for this purpose by the organisers; infrastructures, the industrial sector, education and renewable energies and the environment were the focus of these working groups, which were attended by high-level representatives of the Moroccan and Spanish business fabric.
