France’s AFD to start investing in Moroccan Sahara, says Group’s CEO
The French Development Agency (AFD) will start investing in the Moroccan Sahara, announced the agency’s CEO, Rémy Rioux, who is planning to visit the Kingdom’s southern provinces.
“The AFD Group will invest in the Sahara, a link between Morocco and its neighboring countries. I will soon visit Laâyoun and Dakhla to meet the local population,” Rioux told MAP correspondent in Paris, stressing that this decision is supported by the “all-Africa” approach that AFD believes it shares with Morocco.
“We share an all-Africa approach to promote regional cooperation,” stressed the AFD CEO, who sees Morocco’s influence in Africa as a “driving force” to support the ongoing transitions on the continent.
He cited the Atlantic space to strengthen port cooperation; Rabat’s commitment to a pioneering Africa in terms of a sustainable blue economy; food security, with the launch of the Agrifinance platform, led by the OCP Group and supported by AFD, to finance the local transformation of agricultural value chains on the continent; and museum cooperation around the partnership with the National Foundation of Museums, to promote the Foundation’s openness to the continent and exchanges of expertise for the benefit of several African countries.
Rioux also mentioned other cooperation models, mainly in sports and professional training, in which Morocco has played a pioneering role and has intensified innovative initiatives in several African countries.
To support this reinforced exceptional partnership between Morocco and France, the AFD CEO stressed that President Emmanuel Macron’s recent State visit to the Kingdom reaffirmed “our commitment to write together, and for the next 30 years, the new book of ties between the two countries, by investing in the sustainable development of the Kingdom’s entire territory, exchanging our development experiences, and joining forces across the African continent.”
During his latest State visit to Morocco last month, President Emmanuel Macron reiterated France’s support to Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara and to the Autonomy Plan, saying “I consider that the present and future of Western Sahara lie within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty […] For France, autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the framework within which this issue shall be resolved […] For France, this constitutes now the only basis to achieve a just, lasting, and negotiated political solution, in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.”
The French President also reaffirmed his commitment that France will further support Morocco’s efforts to promote the Sahara’s economic and social development, for the benefit of the local populations.
“And I say this here with great emphasis: our operators and businesses will support the development of these territories (of Moroccan Sahara) through investments, sustainable initiatives, and solidarity for the benefit of local populations,” he said before the Moroccan Parliament.
For AFD, the President’s ambition has resulted in sealing six declarations of intent with the Moroccan government, representing a total of over €900 million over the next five years, in a co-investment approach.
“In line with the approaches promoted by Moroccan authorities, our Group will notably directly support the Casablanca-Settat and Guelmim-Oued-Noun regions, to contribute to the inclusive and sustainable development of these territories,” he said.
He added that AFD will further strengthen its action by working together with OCP, with which “we have just signed a partnership agreement of which we are very proud” to support the decarbonization and resilience of the Moroccan economy and, more broadly, of the African continent.
The AFD CEO, who highlighted the priority sectors for the Moroccan-French partnership, cited first and foremost the preservation of natural resources, which is “one of the major challenges for many countries, including Morocco, in the coming years.”
In this respect, he said that the fight against water scarcity will be at the heart of the Group’s interventions, through support for the national water strategy.
“We will also work to extend our support for sustainable forest management into new territories, such as the Toubkal massif, and continue to support the promotion of sustainable and resilient agriculture,” he said.
He added that the socio-economic inclusion of youth and women is also one of AFD’s priorities for action with Morocco, through support for the Kingdom’s major social reforms.
The third priority is to support economic recovery through private investment and entrepreneurial initiatives. To contribute to this, he added, all the Group’s components – AFD, Proparco, and Expertise France – alongside STOA and Bpifrance, are joining forces with the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment to create the “Morocco-France Investment Accelerator.”
“Finally, the energy transition obviously remains one of the key priorities of our partnership, with continued support for research and development in forward-looking technologies such as green hydrogen and sustainable mobility,” he concluded.
Morocco is the AFD Group’s leading partner country worldwide. Over the past thirty years, the Group has invested more than €7 billion to support the reforms and innovative investments defined and carried out by Moroccan public and private stakeholders.
