French Public Investments in Morocco to Continue, Including in Sahara – President Macron

On Tuesday in Rabat, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France’s public investments in Morocco, including in the Sahara, will continue.

Speaking to business leaders and economic stakeholders at the conclusion of the “Morocco-France Entrepreneurial Meeting,” Macron highlighted Morocco as the “leading client” of the French Development Agency (AFD) for investments. He emphasized that the AFD will maintain its support for projects across the Kingdom, including those led by French companies in the Sahara.

He highlighted that France aims to build a fair, mutually beneficial economic partnership with Morocco, recognizing the numerous synergies between their economies.

The French President highlighted the existing industrial partnership in several fields, calling for greater integration of value chains in a context of “re-regionalization of tariffs”.

Macron also expressed regret that European and French financial groups were forced to leave Africa “because of the rules and regulatory standards that Europeans have taken for themselves.”

“I think this is a terrible strategic error. (…) we Europeans have to reconsider the rules and restrictions we have imposed on our institutions,” said the French Head of State at this meeting dedicated to strategic sectors of the future.

Co-organized by the the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) and the the Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF), via the Club des Chefs d’Entreprises France-Maroc, this meeting takes particular importance in the context of the French President Emmanuel Macron’s State visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI.