King Mohammed VI Starts New African Tour with Visit to Accra

King Mohammed VI of Morocco embarked as of this Thursday on a new African tour with a first stop in Accra, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The royal visit to Ghana will be an opportunity to give a new momentum to Moroccan-Ghanaian political partnership, especially so as Ghana, which had long supported the Polisario separatist front, claiming the independence of the Moroccan Sahara, was among the group of 28 member countries of African Union (AU) to have signed a motion in favor of Morocco.

The motion, addressed to the AU summit in Kigali in July last year, demanded the return of Morocco to the continental organization and the expulsion of the Polisario’s pseudo-Sahrawi Republic (SADR).

Therefore, strengthening ties with Ghana offers political benefits, as it is an influential member of the African Union.

The royal visit will also enable to move economic partnership between the two countries to a higher level, with the expected signing of several cooperation accords.

These accords would fulfil the wish that Moroccan and Ghanaian business operators expressed during the economic forum they held in Accra in January to explore partnership avenues in various sectors.

The forum provided an opportunity for the Moroccan delegation to highlight the business and investment trends in the North African Kingdom as well as the progress scored by Morocco in the sectors of industry, agriculture, tourism, renewable energies, infrastructures, agro-industry, mining, tourism, real estate, transport and logistics, pharmacy and fishing.
The path to a fruitful economic partnership between Morocco and Ghana at both the institutional and private level will surely be smooth as the North African kingdom and its firms have built a solid investment experience in Africa and as the two countries have succeeded in promoting their respective economies.

Actually, Ghana is the second largest economy of ECOWAS behind Nigeria and ahead of Côte d’Ivoire.

The bulk of GDP in this country is provided by the services sector, accounting for 51.9 pc of GDP, ahead of industry (26.6 pc) and agriculture (21.5 pc).

According to a recent report from Coface, Ghana offers opportunities in two main sectors, namely distribution and the blossoming sector of ICT.

The diversification of the Ghanaian economy has also been based on the development of the industrial and agricultural sectors, Ghana being one of the world’s largest producers of cocoa.

These are all areas that could lead to the establishment of win-win partnerships, in line with the new rationale of South-South cooperation, advocated by King Mohammed VI.