The Morocco-France economic forum hosted by Rabat at the end of the week made it possible to forge and put forward new concepts which must now guide economic relations between the two countries, to face the new challenges of an economic context. turbulent world.
These include the concepts of “made with Morocco“, “growth with Morocco» or growing together, shared competitiveness, “coopetition” (mixture of the two words cooperation and competition), intertwining of value chains…
In a word, it is a question of considering these relationships under the prism of a “new paradigm“. This must be based on a solid relationship which is long-term and takes advantage of the common and rich history of the two countries, underlines the general director of the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment, Mohamed Benchaaboun who took attend this event.
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This former Moroccan ambassador to Paris considers that for the revitalization of their bilateral economic relations, the two countries “need a new lease of life, to be stronger and more resilient together in the face of new challenges», emphasizing the word “together” which he repeated twice.
To do this, Mohamed Benchaaboun identified three avenues. The first is the establishment of new financial and non-financial mechanisms in favor of medium-sized or intermediate-sized Moroccan and French companies. The second consists of encouraging the emergence of startups and innovative companies which deploy in France or Morocco, he indicates, recalling that France is the leading European country in the field of fundraising for startups. .
“Let’s act together by investing in research & development and training in new sectors linked to high technology, let’s prepare talent pools capable of meeting the challenges in these areas of the future and to succeed in the digital transition. Let’s put in place the appropriate tools to support these startups in all phases of their life cycle“, he recommends.
Join the two continents vertical
The general director of the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment notes, to this end, that the latter’s new priority is to set up specialized funds aimed at providing a financing offer adapted to the specificities of startups.
The third avenue put forward by the speaker is the encouragement and support by France of the integration of Morocco into the new distribution of value chains, by putting forward the concept of shared competitiveness of co-location and “coopetition”.
Furthermore, he believes, “the partnership between Morocco and France aims to transcend the strict framework of bilateral relations to fit into the two continents vertical», Morocco positioning itself as a platform and a hub between Europe and Africa.
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For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Safran, Ross Mcinnes, insisted, during a panel on co-location, on the concept of “growth with Morocco” which consists of allowing the economies of the two countries to grow together. . He particularly highlighted cooperation in the field of training and research and development, mainly in the area of supply chains.
Same story from Jean-Philippe Puig, general director of the French group Avril, who pleaded for complementarity between French and Moroccan actors with a view to accelerating the implementation of current initiatives, among others, in supporting the farmer and his integration into the global value chain of agro-industrial players.
By Lahcen Oudoud And Yassine Mennane
04/27/2024 at 6:00 p.m.
