Moroccan Delegation Tours East Africa to Monitor Joint Projects Launched during Royal Visits
Less than a year after King Mohammed VI paid a landmark visit to East Africa that was crowned by the launch of several development projects in the visited countries, a Moroccan delegation is currently touring the region to assess the progress made in the implementation of these projects.
The delegation’s tour includes Ethiopia, Rwanda Tanzania, Madagascar and Zambia.
This Thursday, the delegation, led by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Mounia Boucetta, was in Dar Es Salaam to follow up the projects launched by the Monarch during his visit to Tanzania in October 2016.
The delegation discussed with Tanzanian Deputy Foreign Minister Susan Alphonce Kolimba cooperation prospects between the two countries and assessed the implementation of the 22 agreements signed during the royal visit.
The delegation visited the site of the Mohammed VI Mosque in Dar Es Salaam, whose construction works were launched by the Monarch in person.
The religious building will include a prayer hall that can accommodate more than 5,000 faithful, a library, a conference room, in addition to cultural and administrative buildings.
On the first stop of the tour in Ethiopia Monday, the delegation, visited the future site of the training center for water and irrigation scheduled to open in 2019, as well as the regional offices of the Moroccan Phosphates group (OCP) in Addis Ababa.
The OCP is to build a fertilizer plant in Dire Dawa, the second biggest agglomeration in Ethiopia. The fertilizer project, to be carried out in two phases, requires a $3.7 billion investment, which is the biggest investment OCP ever injected outside Morocco.
By 2022, the plant is expected to produce 2.5 million tons of fertilizer, helping thus Ethiopia become self-sufficient regarding fertilizer needs. Ethiopia used to import 900,000 tons of fertilizer each year.
Ethiopia seeks to benefit from Morocco’s expertise in the sectors of agriculture, industry, irrigation and water management, and fight against poverty.
After Ethiopia, the Moroccan delegation held in Kigali a meeting with Rwandan officials on the follow-up of the 20 agreements signed by the King and President Paul Kagame in October 2016.
The agreements include the construction of a drug factory that would manufacture beta-lactam antibiotics, as well as a housing project to build 5,000 units in Kigali.
The Moroccan delegation includes representatives of the employers’ confederation (CGEM), as King Mohammed VI is keen on associating the private sector in the projects he initiates in the continent.
