MOROCCO: BRIDGING THE GAP
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orocco, a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, dis nguished by its Berber, Arabian and European cultural influences, has a thriving economic market, and enjoys the benefits of interna onal trade and global partnerships. Offering political stability, ins tu onal and macroeconomic dependability and a steady GDP growth rate of approximately 4.5% over the past 20 years, Morocco is one to watch. Reliable and effective, this innovave country can act both as a bridge,
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connecting Europe and Africa, and also as a profitable manufacturing hub in itself. Leveraging its geographic and cultural es with Africa, the Middle East and Europe, its world class infrastructure alongside the new Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City, Morocco’s manufacturing sector is booming. Morocco has had ins tu onal relaons with Europe since the 1960s, resul ng in the Advanced Status of 2008, upgrading the Euromed process and the Associa on agreement, among other mutually beneficial arrangements. Morocco’s well-developed opera ng environment, its
reintegra on into the African Union, and its strong presence in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) all play an important role. Furthermore, the Industrial Acceleration Plan promotes firms to extend opera ons across Africa, developing Morocco’s status as a gateway for interna onal investment in the con nent. The emergence of a middle class in the greater north west of Africa, with Morocco as economic catalyst, further supports companies to explore this new market, and has opened up opportunities for European companies to expand. There is an established history between Morocco and Europe, and King Mohammed VI has always been a Europe enthusiast. His PHD thesis in Law was dedicated to the relaonship between Morocco and the European Union, and he did an internship at the European Commission with Jacques Delors at the end of the eigh es. Since his arrival in the throne in 1999, he has pursued three economic sequences. Firstly, from 1999 to 2007, there was an infrastructure building sequence backed by public spending. The results were staggering. Morocco went from 100km of highway in 1999 to more than 2000km in 2020. Addi onally, the building of the largest African port, an $800m project, and the $4bn Tangier to Casablanca high-speed railway, are two of the most noteworthy recent projects completed. Major road, rail, airport and port infrastructure upgrades will continue in line with goals set out in the government’s long-term infrastructure strategy. These ongoing infrastructural improvements posi on Morocco as a strong link between Africa and Europe and intra-Europe trade. Secondly, from 2007 to 2012 a phase of rapid interna onaliza on through industry was launched. French carmaker Renault arrived in 2007, followed by PSA in 2015, and several hundred subcontractors from the automo ve industry have since
