Despite being battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, rising US-China tensions and the war in Ukraine, globalization isn’t dead, notes Bloomberg, adding that a “burgeoning industrial zone outside the Moroccan city of Tangier offers a prime example”.
Morocco is home to Africa’s biggest car-assembly factory and is powered by investment from companies from Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan and the US, it says, recalling that HM King Mohammed VI conceived the Tanger Med port project 20 years ago.
“Foreign investment flocked in, auto and aerospace industries took root, employing tens of thousands of young Moroccans, and local engineering schools thrived”, the U.S. media points out, adding that ‘it’s largely succeeded’.
“Today the port rivals the oldest maritime gateways in Europe,” Bloomberg stresses.
Morocco’s maintains strong security cooperation with the US and Europe, the same source notes, adding that the Kingdom is designated as a “major non-NATO ally.”
The Kingdom hosts the US and NATO forces for “African Lion” training exercises each year, says Bloomberg, which underlines that at the same time, China’s economic presence in Morocco is growing.
“Huawei and ZTE are aggressively recruiting engineers”, the U.S. agency notes, adding that among the newer operators in the auto cluster is the fiber-optic cable producer ZTT Group, an active player in Beijing’s grand plan to crisscross the planet with Belt and Road infrastructure.
