Choiseul Africa Business Forum 2025 Promotes ‘Made with Africa’
The 6th Choiseul Africa Business Forum took place in Rabat from 4 to 5 November, 2025. The annual Forum is organized by the Choiseul Institute under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco. For this 6th edition, some 800 participants from 60 countries attended the Forum. The key message of the Forum was to paint Africa as ‘Co-Creator of Value’ and to push for ‘Made with Africa.’
In his keynote address, Moroccan Minister of Industry and Commerce Ryad Mezzour highlighted that ‘Made with Africa’ should be the new motto for the continent. Africa has all the ingredients to make its #industrialization a resounding success: it has the market, the youth, the resources, the energy, and perhaps most importantly, the drive. Although a single country may not be endowed with all the attributes, regional value chains (#RVC) can deliver the goods.
The President of the Choiseul Institute, Pascal Lorot, believes the industrialization in Africa is gaining momentum. Going with the flow, the Forum is here to push this movement, to make it grow, and to structure it.
Naturally, Morocco came under the spotlight during the Forum and it gave an update on its plans to achieve ‘Made with Africa.’ First of all, the seaport of Tanger Med near the Strait of Gibraltar sees 20% of global trade and thus can act as a launchpad for Africa into the Global Value Chains (#GSC).
Leveraging on its geostrategic location, the natural step for Morocco is to promote Local Value Addition (#LVA) in order to integrate into the global value chain. Morocco has identified certain sectors where it can play a key role. One particular sector is the automobile manufacturing where Morocco is working to build up the whole ecosystem for Electric Vehicles, from processing of #CriticalMinerals, production of batteries to the assembly of vehicles.
It is worth noting that Morocco is hosting the World Cup 2030. In preperation for this planetary event, the Government of Moroccs is pushing infrastructural development to upgrade its amenities to welcome football fans from all over the world. In addition to stadiums, Morocco is upgrading its railway network to give fans an excellent customer experience during their stay in Morocco.
As for Hana Tehelku, Managing Director at the Ethiopian Regulatory Authority for the Capital Market, she pointed out that Africa is not a homegeneous entity or market. Different countries are at different stages of development and have different priorities. She believes each country must be clear about is comparative advantages and what it can bring to the table in order to be able to collaborate and compete effectively with others.
Pascal Lorot reminded that the Choiseul Institute plans to hold the Africa – Gulf Cooperation Dialogue on 8 December 2025, in the wake of the Doha Forum. The Doha Forum will take place from 6 to 7 December 2025 and aims to promote the ‘new architecture of partnerships’ under the South-South Cooperation Framework.