Ukraine-Russia war vindicates Morocco’s plan to foster sovereignty on all strategic fronts

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted commodities market sending prices skyrocketing at a context the world is struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Morocco’s sovereign Mohammed VI had- prior to the outbreak of this war- urged the government to take concrete measures to foster Morocco’s self-sufficiency on the strategic areas of health, energy, the industry and food, in a move that is now vindicated by the market turbulences triggered by the inter-state conflict in the Black sea region.

In a speech marking the opening of the parliament in October, King Mohammed VI urged the executive “to set up an integrated national system to manage the strategic reserve stock of essential goods and products, especially in the areas of food, health and energy…in order to enhance the country’s strategic security.”

The war in Ukraine has led to a surge in wheat and gas prices to unprecedented levels while barrel prices exceeded 110 dollars.

Russia and Ukraine control 18% and 7% of the world’s soft wheat output, the essential staple food for Moroccans.

The King’s call to build strategic reserves in essential goods is all the more important in this global context marked by an acute uncertainty as to the outcome of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

Morocco, from the other hand, controls the world’s largest phosphates reserves and has a buoyant fertilizers industry, key to global food security.

It has also revised upwards its renewable energy goals to over 52% by 2025 to ease dependence on energy imports and its weight on state budget.