Morocco Newsline

Most recently Morocco signed a free trade agreement with the United States in summer 2004, thus becoming the first African and only the second Arab nation to do so. A modern Moslem country with a modern, open and vibrant society, Morocco’s   population became mostly urban in 2001, hosting a growing middle-class and in the lead of multilingual entrepreneurs and managers educated and trained in Europe and the United States. Over the past fifteen years Morocco has achieved significant improvements in its education system, health services and, importantly, infrastructure. The ascension of King Mohamed VI in 1999 gave a boost to these trends. The King, the government and the people of Morocco are striving to modernise their economy through privatisation and reform. Theirs is a very strong commitment to liberalisation. Today’s Morocco is carried by a clear and ambitious vision, expanding economic opportunity for all.

His Excellency André Azoulay
Counsellor to His Majesty King Mohammed VI for Financial and Economic Affairs:

 “You have to keep in mind and to put in perspective  this FTA with  the industries of America as part of a strategy who  Morocco started to forge and to nurse a long time ago when we were the first emerging country to sign the Uruguay Round..We want to put Morocco as a platform for business with Europe, with US, with Asia, China, Africa, Middle East. It was part of a global vision of Morocco. You know, we started the process of deregulation, of reforming of our economy and building a growing project, politically speaking, economically or socially in the early eighties. And now we are in this very, very rewarding period where,having,  after having performed for a long time, we have started now the period of, we will get the dividend of our reform. That is in my view which makes the Morocco momentum now not only a valid momentum but a very attractive one.

His Excellency Thomas T.Riley
US Ambassador to Morocco:

“Morocco is already a very attractive investment on its own, just because of its political situation, its geographical location, and its broad connections to other countries, including, obviously, Europe in addition to the US. This is a government that is very aggressive about making investment in future; that made the commitment to join the world economy. They know that there are some sacrifices that have to be made but they are making the investment in the infrastructure. They are making the capital investment as well. The US is actually really quite behind and may miss some of these opportunities if we don’t put something in place to take advantage of it. The FTA is the beginning of that.”

Mr. Zouhair Chorfi
Head  of  the Moroccan Treasury US Morocco FTA negotiator

“FTA negotiators made sure it offered maximum transparency and visibility to US investors as our main objective was to see a larger presence of US investors and companies in Morocco. The guarantees we offer to our American friends mean that there are in fact no restrictions whatsoever  for an American company to establish itself in Morocco.”

Mr Hassan Chami
President of the Moroccan Business Association CGEM
“The   Morocco-US free trade agreement is a great opportunity for the Moroccan economy and will allow us to welcome US investors attracted to the local markets and on  a level with other nations with whom Morocco has privileged relationships.”

Ms Julianne Furman General Manager of  Polydesign Systems Morocco
President of the Tangier Free Zone Investors Association

“For us   Morocco is our European platform and that’s how we  see it. For us coming to Morocco was an opportunity to actually introduce ourselves into the European market and so I think the free trade agreement just makes it that much easier. What I think that we’ve been able to benefit from is the fact that for importation, for example, for imports, we have no duties, no customs; it is very fluid. We can import in about three hours and we export in about four to five hours. You know, that’s the state of the art.”

Mr. Larry Dewitt President of Amcham Morocco
General Manager of CMS Energy Morocco:

“Reforms that have taken place in this country have been tremendous. We do credit the government of Morocco for addressing many of  these issues such as the labour code, such as workers’ rights  - and the changes that Morocco has made in the past two and half/three years to dove-tail into the FTA makes this an absolutely important area to invest here. The sectors here are very important. The automobile industry, parts industry if you will, as well as the IT.”

His Excellency Thomas T Riley
US Ambassador to Morocco

“Agriculture is a great one. Surprisingly it is one of the fastest growing areas. I just visited two days ago a man and his brother who started a company - who process olive oil and I asked him how much of the olive oil he sold to the United States and I didn’t expect what the answer was which was   last year he exported ten million dollars worth of olive oil to the United States and he expects that with the free trade agreement he will have increased opportunity. He can’t get enough olives. But there are also great opportunities in services. Dell Computer opened up a service centre here not even a year ago and they will have by the end of the year a thousand people working in this service centre that services the French market. It’s a great success and that is a just a huge amount of growth on any scale. I would add textiles. Just this week I also visited a plant, a UK plant. They serve the British market and they are doing a wonderful job employing thousands of people. And it’s perfectly suited for the market place, for the location. When the products are finished and tested and finally inspected, they go down a chute from the second floor right into a truck with a container on the back, a forty foot container and in five days, they are in the stores, on the hangers, with the price tags already on them. You can’t do that from China.”

Mr. Larry Dewitt President of Amcham Morocco
General Manager of CMS Energy Morocco:
“I think all the structures are in place. My feeling as far as Moroccan companies teaming up with American companies is very right.”

His Excellency Thomas T.Riley
US Ambassador to Morocco :

“And one day there is going to be a large North-African market. It will be a significant market on its own and Morocco will have a huge advantage and that is a leap and getting a running start in terms of the things we have talked about. The change in the laws, the change in the environment, developing the expertise, developing the entrepreneurial spirit… maybe developing a better capital market. As those markets open and expand Morocco will have the advantage because they will be a couple of years ahead.”

His Excellency André Azoulay:
“We are not dealing with a short term issue. We are forging a policy for the next fifty years. One day we have will also to make Morocco playing  a central role to rebuild peace, stability, safety and security in the  ……