France and Morocco Seal Deals Worth €10 Billion During Macron’s State Visit in Rabat

The French President Emmanuel Macron led a large delegation to Morocco from 28 to 30 October 2024. The delegation comprised of nine ministers, captains of the French industry and fine intellectuals well-versed in the history and culture of both countries. Altogether, the presidential plane carried 122 personalities from Paris to Rabat.

It might be worth recalling that the relationship between France and Morocco stood at a standstill for several years over the claim of sovereignty on Western Sahara by Morocco. On that issue, Algeria opposed Morocco by supporting the claim for independence of Western Saharan and the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people. Until recently, the French foreign policy dictated a carefully choregraphed balancing act between Rabat and Algiers.

All that changed in July 2024 when Macron declared that France basically recognized the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara. Algeria promptly expressed its dissatisfaction by recalling its ambassador in Paris. But the dice has been thrown and France has made a calculated strategic decision to side with Morocco.

The change of posture was evidently welcomed by Morocco and paved the way for the reinforcement economic ties between the two nations. The negotiations culminated in the current state visit when 22 agreements were signed worth a total of EUR 10 billion.

The partnership projects cover a multitude of sectors from high-speed rail, renewable energy, creative industries, and even defense. Other key issues important to the two parties were also on the agenda such as immigration and the reinforcement of the role of Morocco as a bridge between Europe to Africa.

France and Morocco maintain strong people-to-people (#P2P) ties with a significant diaspora of nearly one million persons of Moroccan descent living in France. As a matter of fact, Macron did not fail to bring along some famous people with Moroccan roots such as comedian Jamel Debbouze, writer Leila Slimani, and reporter Ali Baddou. In the other direction, 5 million French tourists visit Morocco every year and more than 50,000 French live in Morocco.

Alstom is positioning itself as the preferred partner for the high-speed rail (HSR) network in Morocco by supplying 18 high-speed trainsets on the Al Boraq line which will eventually traverse the country from north to south.

The OCP Group and ENGIE will partner to accelerate the #EnergyTransition by cooperating in the fields of PV, Wind Energy, Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia. Similarly, TotalEnergies plans to build an electrolytic plant powered by renewable energy to produce Green Hydrogen (#GH2).

In order to mitigate the adverse effects of #ClimateChange causing prolonged and frequent droughts, Veolia will build a desalination plant outside Rabat which will be the largest in Africa with a capacity of 300 millions cubic meters annually. France and Morocco will partner to foster its digital gaming sector which generates nearly MAD 1 billion a year.

Recently, Morocco has performed well economically and has been marketing itself as the ‘Gateway to Africa’. During a regional meeting in December 2023, King Mohammed VI promoted the ‘Atlantic Initiative’ which ambitions to connect countries in the Sahel region to the Atlantic Ocean.

As part of this vision, Tanger Med is already one of the busiest port in all of Africa with a regional reach. French shipping giant CMA GGM fully owns the Casablanca Terminal and possesses a 40% stake in Tanger Med Eurogate Terminal. Now, CMA CGM will form a 49-51 JV with Marsa Maroc to develop the Nador West Med Terminal.

Morocco has also built a 1055-km highway linking Tiznit in central Morocco to the coastal city of Dakhla near its southern border. Dakhla has the potential to be another major seaport opening to the Atlantic Ocean.

Morocco is also revamping the Tangier Automotive City to fully take advantage of the shift towards Electric Vehicles (#EV) while eyeing exports to EU, USA and even the emerging African market. Morocco does have preferential access to these markets by virtue of its #FTA with the EU, being a beneficiary of AGOA with USA, and being a member of the #AfCFTA.