Yesterday, Wednesday, the US State Department released its annual report on the global investment climate, highlighting Morocco’s qualifications and ambitions as a country active in promoting and facilitating foreign investment, positioning itself as a “regional business hub” and a “gateway” to the African continent.
The US diplomacy highlighted in its report that “Morocco actively encourages and facilitates foreign investment, particularly in export-oriented sectors such as manufacturing, through positive macroeconomic policies, trade liberalization, investment incentives and structural reforms.”
Thanks to its position at the crossroads between Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, the same source adds, Morocco seeks “to become a regional commercial and industrial hub by leveraging its strategic geographical position, its political stability and its world-class infrastructure”, thus reinforcing its status as a regional platform for manufacturing and export for global companies.
According to US diplomacy, Morocco “is implementing strategies to stimulate employment, attract foreign investment, and improve performance and production” by focusing on renewable energies, the automobile and aeronautics industry, textiles, the pharmaceutical industry, outsourced services, and food agriculture, considered key industries.
As part of this reform dynamic, the report mentions the adoption in December 2022 of the new Investment Charter, helping to strengthen the attractiveness of foreign investments.
The report also addresses promising sectors, noting that Morocco “continues to make significant investments in renewable energy and is progressing towards its goal” of representing 52% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
US diplomacy also highlighted green investment opportunities, including smart grids, green hydrogen, energy storage and renewable energy, indicating that the new development model, aimed at being a comprehensive economic reform plan, embodies the Kingdom’s ambition to increase the share of renewable energy from 19.5% in 2021 to 40% by 2035.
In this regard, the report notes that Morocco has attracted investments exceeding $10 billion for the construction of an integrated battery and electric vehicle plant, as well as the allocation of one million hectares for the production of green hydrogen.
American diplomacy emphasizes that Morocco, thanks to a “series of reforms”, has managed to get off the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force and the European Union in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Morocco has ratified, until 2024, 72 investment treaties to encourage and protect investments and 62 economic agreements, notably with the United States and most European Union countries, aimed at eliminating double taxation on income and profits, noting that Morocco is the only country in Africa to have signed a free trade agreement with the United States, which led to the elimination of customs duties on more than 95% of qualified consumer and industrial goods.
The report concludes that since the implementation of the free trade agreement between the two countries, bilateral trade in goods has quadrupled, adding that Washington and Rabat “work closely to expand trade and investment through high-level consultations, bilateral dialogues and other forums aimed at informing American companies about investment opportunities and strengthening business-to-business relationships.”
The State Department’s Investment Climate Report, which this year includes 160 countries, assesses business climate conditions to help U.S. companies “make informed decisions” about doing business abroad.
According to the same source, “a conducive investment climate can help attract sustainable and high-quality investments, supporting sustainable and inclusive economic growth.”
