The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) stated that Morocco, thanks to its strategic position, is Spain’s most important trading partner in Africa, considering the Kingdom a great neighbor to the south and a gateway to the African continent.
“Morocco is our great neighbor to the south, and gateway to the African continent, as its geographical location, between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, gives the Moroccan Kingdom a significant importance, both for its proximity to Europe and its positioning in the Maghreb region,” said the Spanish Confederation in a guidance note published on the occasion of the holding of the Moroccan-Spanish business meeting on May 22 in Madrid, with the participation of over 150 business leaders from the two countries.
The Confederation underlined that “the economic ties between Morocco and Spain generate a significant commercial and investment activity,” recalling that the bilateral agreements between the two countries aim to promote a better framework for the development of trade and cooperation.
In this regard, the Spanish confederation said that the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU), effective since 2000, established a free trade area between the two parties, with significant tariff reductions and facilitated the access of Moroccan agricultural products to Spanish and European markets.
The Confederation’s guidance note also noted that Spanish companies from different sectors maintain good commercial relations with Morocco, making Spain the first customer and supplier to the Moroccan market, underlining that in 2021, over 17.600 companies exported to Morocco.
The same source added that currently, 669 Spanish companies hold at least 10% of the capital of Moroccan companies and 524 Moroccan companies are subsidiaries of Spanish companies.
In the same context, the Confederation added that in 2021, Spain was the third country in terms of investment stock in Morocco and the seventh in terms of cumulative flows, noting that Spanish investment in Morocco in the same year reached 30.7 million euros, primarily invested in manufacturing, tourism, and real estate.
The Morocco-Spain economic meeting was organized as part of the Morocco-Spain High-Level Meeting held in Rabat in February and the Joint Statement issued following the meeting between His Majesty King Mohammed VI and the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in April 2022 in Rabat.
Bringing together almost 150 Moroccan and Spanish business leaders, the meeting, which was initiated by the Morocco-Spain Economic Council (CEMAES), the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, affirms Morocco and Spain’s commitment to strengthening economic relations.
The business meeting was attended by Minister Delegate in charge of Investment, Convergence, and Evaluation of Public Policies, Mohcine Jazouli, Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, Héctor Gomez Hernández, the Spanish Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, Morocco’s Ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), Chakib Alj, General-Director of the Moroccan Investment and Export Development Agency (AMDIE), Ali Seddiki, and several other leaders of major Moroccan and Spanish companies.