Lhe AFD group will now invest in the Sahara, a link between Morocco and its neighboring countries. I will soon go to Laâyoune and Dakhla to meet local populations”, affirmed Rémy Rioux in an interview with MAP, emphasizing that this decision is supported by the “all Africa” which the AFD considers to have in common with Morocco.
“We share an all-Africa approach to promote regional cooperation.”, underlined the CEO of the AFD, who considers Morocco’s influence on the continental scale as a “driving force” to support the transitions taking place on the continent.
He thus cited the Atlantic axis to strengthen port cooperation, Rabat’s commitment to a pioneering Africa in terms of a sustainable blue economy, food security with the launch of the Agrifinance platform, carried by the OCP group and supported by the AFD, with a view to financing the local transformation of agricultural value chains on the continent, or even museum cooperation around the partnership with the National Museum Foundation (FNM), to promote the opening of the foundation on the continent and exchanges of expertise for the benefit of several African countries.
Rioux also mentioned other models of cooperation, notably in the field of sport or professional training, where Morocco has played a pioneering role and has spread innovative initiatives in a number of African countries.
With a view to supporting the exceptional partnership strengthened between Morocco and France, the CEO of the AFD underlined that the recent state visit to the Kingdom of French President Emmanuel Macron had made it possible to reaffirm “our commitment to write together, and for the next 30 years, the new book of relations between our two countries, by investing in the sustainable development trajectory of the entire territory of the Kingdom, by exchanging our development experiences, and by joining our forces across the African continent”.
For the AFD, he specified, this ambition resulted in the signing of six declarations of intent with the Moroccan government, representing an amount of more than 900 million euros over the next five years, in a logic of co-investment.
“In line with the approaches promoted by the Moroccan authorities, our Group will in particular directly support the regions of Casablanca-Settat and Guelmim-Oued-Noun, to contribute to the inclusive and sustainable development of these territories.”, he notably indicated.
And added that the AFD will further strengthen its action by working in concert with the OCP, with which “we have just signed a partnership agreement of which we are very proud” to support the decarbonization and resilience of the Moroccan economy and, more broadly, the African continent.
Highlighting the privileged sectors within the framework of the Moroccan-French partnership, the CEO of the AFD cited firstly the preservation of natural resources, which constitutes “one of the major challenges of the coming years, for many countries, including Morocco”.
He assured, in this regard, that the fight against water stress will be at the center of the Group’s interventions, through support for the national water strategy.
“We will also work to expand our support for sustainable forest management in new territories, such as the Toubkal massif, and continue to support the promotion of sustainable and resilient agriculture.”, he said.
He added that the socio-economic inclusion of young people and women was also part of AFD’s action priorities with Morocco, through support for major social reforms in the Kingdom.
The third priority is to support economic recovery through private investment and entrepreneurial initiatives. To contribute to this, he specified, all the components of the group — AFD, Proparco and Expertise France — alongside STOA and Bpifrance, are joining forces with the Mohammed VI Investment Fund for the creation of “ the Morocco-France Investment Accelerator”.
“Finally, the energy transition obviously remains one of the key priorities of our partnership, by continuing our support for the research and development of future technologies, such as green hydrogen and sustainable mobility.”, he concluded.
Morocco is the first partner country of the AFD group in the world. For thirty years, the group has invested more than 7 billion euros to support reforms and innovative investments defined and supported by Moroccan public and private actors.
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