The significant developments in Morocco’s southern provinces were at the center of a conference held on Saturday in Paris in the presence of several Moroccan and French businessmen.
Driss Guerraoui, President of the Open University of Dakhla, spoke during the meeting about Morocco’s New Development Model (NDM), highlighting King Mohamed VI’s vision of making the country’s southern provinces an engine of development at the regional and continental levels.
Guerraoui stressed the need to further strengthen activities in southern regions with a focus on offering a business-friendly environment.
He also insisted on adopting a reform program based on five principles, including the inclusion of the regions’ inhabitants’ opinions to implement reforms based on their needs and expectations while taking into account the specificities of each region.
Guerraoui recalled that the country aims to boost the GDP of the southern provinces from MAD 10 billion ($988 million) to MAD 22.5 billion ($2.2 billion) between 2010 and 2025 and create 120,000 jobs, noting that unemployment in the regions is expected to be reduced from 17% in 2012 to 9% in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Director of the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture, Majida Maarouf, presented the strategy of the Marine Fisheries Department aimed at further boosting the Halieutis strategy.
Launched in 2009 by King Mohammed VI, Morocco’s fishing strategy “Halieutis” is set to create new industrial platforms and improve the professional management of the country’s fishery resources.
The Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region currently hosts 214 aquaculture development projects, including 100 projects led by young entrepreneurs.
Maarouf highlighted the new investment opportunities and the business climate in the southern regions, pointing out the need to further accompany investors, in particular start-ups, by providing them with funds, training, and technical assistance programs to succeed.
Regarding renewable energy, Tarik Hamane, Member of the Executive Committee of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), highlighted Morocco’s potential in solar and wind energies.
Hamane outlined the country’s achievements in the energy sector and the potential opportunities it offers for Moroccan entrepreneurs in the diaspora who would be interested in investing in it.
Morocco’s Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills Younes Sekkouri and the Ambassador of Morocco to France Mohamed Benchaaboun also attended the conference.
