Morocco resolutely traces its way to establish itself as a regional platform for the production of renewable energy and valuation of strategic minerals, in the right of royal vision erecting the energy transition and sustainable development in pillars of the new development model, said Leïla Benali, minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development on Tuesday.
Intervening on the occasion of the fourth edition of the Europe-Africa Forum, organized in Marseille by the economic weekly The platform And the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, the Minister stressed that the kingdom nourishes the legitimate ambition to appear among the pioneer nations of the 21st century in the field of clean energies.
Competitive energy infrastructure
Leïla Benali recalled that Morocco has consented, in the last two decades, considerable investments in energy infrastructure, which now allows it to produce renewable electricity at lower costs than those observed in certain European nuclear power plants. According to her, this performance is part of the rigorous application of royal orientations aimed at establishing national energy sovereignty and strengthening the country’s resilience in the face of geopolitical and climatic upheavals.
“The development of renewable energies, technological location, and the structuring of industrial -employment industrial sectors constitute the three levers of an integrated and sovereign ecosystem”said the minister.
It has also highlighted the advantages of Morocco in the production of clean energy vectors, such as methanol and green ammonia, capable of ultimately feeding international maritime fleets at a lower cost than liquefied natural gas. “The kingdom is already positioned as a strategic actor in the energy balances of tomorrow”she said.
-A continental ambition for strategic ores
Regarding the mining resources, the Minister insisted on the need to fully integrate the value chain of critical minerals within the energy transition strategies. It has reported a concerted effort between Morocco and several African and international partners to redesign sustainable standards and ESG certifications applicable to these resources, within the framework of a space which it has qualified as “Super-region”extending from Kazakhstan to South Africa via Morocco.
This project, she said, is a continuation of royal engagement in favor of African integration and the integration of Morocco into sustainable global supply chains, especially in the high-added sectors, considered to be motors of an in-depth economic redeployment on a regional scale.
The minister expressed the hope that this work will lead to the upcoming announcement, during the next National Congress of Mines, of a unified normative framework for the sector.
The Europe-Africa Forum is intended to be an annual dialogue platform between political leaders, economic decision-makers and representatives of civil society of the two continents. Morocco, guest of honor of this edition, was distinguished there by a special session devoted to its economic trajectory, its structuring projects and its vocation as a link between Europe and Africa in the fields of the future, at the forefront of which energy and minerals.
