A large Moroccan economic delegation met, Monday on Wall Street, the leaders and main operators of the New York Stock Exchange, in a new impetus to the strategic relations which unite the Kingdom and the United States in different areas, including the promotion of capital markets.
Carried out jointly by the Casablanca Stock Exchange and the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), in the presence of the Moroccan Ambassador to Washington, Youssef Amrani, this mission aims in particular to strengthen relations of cooperation and exchange between financial operators in both countries.
The Moroccan delegation is made up of the Director General of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, Tarik Senhaji, the Director of Financial Operations and Markets at the AMMC, Nasser Seddiqi, the Director General of the Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), Kamal Mokdad, the Director CEO of CFG Bank, Younes Benjelloun and CEO of MAROCLEAR, Mounir Razki.
The delegation also includes the Director of Development at the Casablanca Stock Exchange, Zineb Guennouni, the Director of Market Operations at the same Stock Exchange, Ahmed Arharbi, in addition to Lahcen Danoun from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Siham Talbioui from Bank Al Maghrib.
In his speech on this occasion, Ambassador Youssef Amrani highlighted the solidity of the multidimensional relations uniting Morocco and the States, as well as the dynamic of cooperation underway across the entire ecosystem of Moroccan capital markets. and Americans.
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“This long-standing friendship and our common strategic interests have made our two countries essential partners on a multitude of issues and challenges ranging from security threats, climate change, energy to the promotion of common values of peace, stability and economic liberalism”, argued the diplomat.
He noted that Rabat and Washington took a new step in strengthening their relations by signing a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2004 before proceeding with its implementation in 2006, noting that the Kingdom is the only African country and the second in the Arab world linked with the United States by such an agreement.
Thanks to this agreement, the United States is now Morocco’s third trading partner, after France and Spain, while the Kingdom is the 4th trading partner of the United States in Africa, said Mr. Amrani, adding that Thanks to this agreement, Morocco experienced a substantial increase in American investments.
Last year, these investments represented more than 30% of total foreign direct investments (FDI) in Morocco, making the United States the leading investor in the Kingdom, noted the diplomat who also reported a considerable increase of bilateral trade which reached five billion in 2023, compared to only 925 million in 2005, a year before the entry into force of the FTA.
Similarly, U.S. exports to Morocco increased in value by 700%, from $480 million in 2005 to $3.4 billion in 2023, while Morocco’s exports to the United States tripled to amount to $1.6 billion in 2023, compared to $445 million in 2005, he continued.
Referring to relations with Africa, the natural extension and strategic depth of Morocco, the ambassador observed that this part of the world is gradually establishing itself as a “new engine” of growth and is moving towards the establishment of a continental free trade area.
He underlined, in this regard, that Morocco’s deep ties with the continent “undeniably offer vast potential” to American companies, noting that the Kingdom is the second largest investor in Africa and the first in West Africa with 85% of the country’s total foreign direct investments.
“With the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and more than 50 similar agreements, Morocco has established itself as a free trade hub offering access to a consumer market of 2 .5 billion people”, the Ambassador insisted.
He indicated that as part of Morocco’s ongoing efforts towards a prosperous Africa, a new cooperation mechanism was recently created thanks to a bold international initiative launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI aimed at improving the access of African countries to the Atlantic Ocean.
“This strategic initiative aims to alleviate the region’s economic bottlenecks by facilitating connectivity, making the Kingdom’s road, port and rail infrastructure available to Sahel countries to strengthen their participation in international trade, including with UNITED STATES”, he explained.
In the same vein, the ambassador noted that the major political and economic reforms undertaken in Morocco over the last two decades under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI have made the Kingdom a regional economic power and an integrated financial hub in Africa. with a modern and very diversified economy.
More recently, Morocco has entered a new phase of development, focusing on financial inclusion, digital entrepreneurship and access to digital infrastructure and services for individuals and businesses in order to support job creation. , particularly in favor of women and young people, he continued.
Youssef Amrani also indicated that the launch of the Moroccan derivatives market on the Casablanca Stock Exchange will complete a dynamic of structural reforms of capital markets in the Kingdom.
Noting the importance of the Casablanca place as a vital institution which “shapes Morocco’s financial destiny and plays a central role in connecting investors to opportunities and businesses to capital”, Mr. Amrani pleaded for a strengthened partnership between the Casablanca Stock Exchange and Wall Street.
This partnership “could be a real game-changer, helping not only to deepen U.S.-Morocco cooperation in the financial markets sector, but also to strengthen our broader strategic alliance in Africa and the Middle East”, concluded the ambassador.
For his part, the director of the Casablanca Stock Exchange indicated that this mission aims to bring the market and American investors closer to the opportunities offered by the Casablanca financial center and the Moroccan market.
It is also a question of examining in more detail an exchange of skills, concerning the launch of derivatives markets in which Morocco has voluntarily committed and which it will carry out this year, specified Tarik Senhaji in a declaration to the MAP.
He noted that today’s mission has a special character since it studies the prospects of cooperation with leading financial infrastructures in New York, “ temple of global finance“, citing the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the International Continental Exchange in this regard.
This mission “is an opportunity for us and the operators who support us”, including regulators, banks and brokerage firms, to establish partnerships with American counterparts, he continued.
And to conclude that stock exchanges play a leading role as sources of financing but also as an important promotional tool for countries.
With MAP
