Spain and Morocco, Global Strategic Alliance
Recently, the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, insisted on an idea that those of us who have been working in this field for some time now have been insisting on, and that is that "Morocco and Spain are two complementary economies", we have much to gain TOGETHER, we gain in competitiveness and we gain in resilience to current and future crises, the president of the Spanish employers' association stated clearly: "We must take advantage of our respective competitive advantages, working together". TOGETHER we are stronger in almost all areas.
We have always insisted on these ideas, ideas that are both simple and complex to implement in some strategic sectors for both countries, not because of a lack of technical or financial means, but because of a lack, I would say, of will, unjustified mistrust, old stereotypes or simply a lack of communication... For example, in the agricultural sector we have always insisted on achieving an attainable objective: that together we can set minimum prices for horticultural products to prevent third countries from benefiting from this lack of communication...That together we can study the value chain of the sector and the price formation of each product in the two countries and propose a system - computerised - for setting minimum prices at the level of the main marketers.... Some companies located on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar already allow part of this integration of both production costs and prices between the two countries, there are many examples, but there is still a lack of real will to work TOGETHER in this strategic sector.
In other sectors, such as textiles, we are making great strides and in the automotive sector there is more integration every day. We have synergies in almost all sectors (even in the mining and chemical sector), a great potential for joint growth with the possibility of being leaders in several international markets, let's take advantage of it.
We have several challenges ahead of us before achieving the long-awaited Global Strategic Partnership in the economic and commercial sphere: the challenge of financing, we need more integration between the financial sectors of both countries and more financing for joint projects (the 800 million euros announced during the High Level Meeting last February is a good figure but it does not meet the great expectations and opportunities that must be seized), the challenge of improving transport connections and logistics between both countries, more infrastructure, more operators and more tools to guarantee the increased flow of supplies and goods between the two shores. Improving communication, although the Spain-Morocco Economic Council is doing a good job, we need to multiply bilateral forums and joint working groups on issues of common interest that bring together both large corporations and SMEs and entrepreneurs to replace the culture of competition, which has prevailed in recent years, with one of integration.
Last but not least, there is the no less important challenge of transferring the benefits of this economic and commercial alliance to the public opinion of both countries, if we want to overcome the misgivings and prejudices that partly stifle our aspirations, we must involve the social groups and media actors in this new stage of alliance between the two countries, it is a crucial issue, intangibles influence the development of business....
As the excellent video presented on 22 May in Madrid by the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Foreign Investment states: "May we succeed in being catalysts for shared prosperity. May we succeed in being catalysts for shared prosperity, Inchallah!