President Akhanouch was received in the United Arab Emirates to enhance cooperation between Rabat and Abu Dhabi

Aziz Akhanouch y Mohamed bin Zayed se reúnen para discutir el fortalecimiento de una asociación económica

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Since Aziz Akhanouch's arrival in the Moroccan government, one of his cabinet's obsessions has been to forge closer ties with as many allies as possible. The diplomatic rupture with Algeria at the end of August makes ties with other countries even more important, especially at a time when Moroccans and Algerians are rearming in the face of fears of a possible conflict. In this line of diplomatic rapprochement, President Akhanouch led an expedition to the United Arab Emirates to discuss cooperation issues with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed. Mohamed bin Zayed.visita-marruecos-emiratos (1)

Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, and Nadia Fettah, Minister of Economy and Finance, accompanied the President of the Alawite Kingdom on his visit to the UAE. On the Emirati side, in addition to bin Zayed himself, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, were present. The Moroccan expedition first visited the successful Dubai Expo 2020, which is currently experiencing its most buoyant period since its inauguration, with more than seven million visitors just a few days ago.

Speaking about the Expo, Aziz Akhanouch said that "it is a great global event that presented the UAE, this great country, in a dazzling way and marketed its shining image to the world". He also expressed the kingdom's satisfaction with the UAE's success in this Expo, "especially because this event is being organised for the first time in the land of a brotherly Arab country and in a delicate circumstance in which the world is living under the weight of a health pandemic".

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The good relations that exist between Rabat and Abu Dhabi will see new pages written in the coming months. Sultan Al Jaber said that "the UAE aims to strengthen its cooperation with Morocco in sectors of common interest such as energy, renewable energy, advanced technology, agriculture and industry, as well as trade, mining, tourism and infrastructure". He also recalled that the UAE is the country with the highest volume of foreign investment in Morocco, namely $20 billion in 2020. The Abu Dhabi Development Fund has contributed to the financing of up to 82 development projects in the kingdom for a total value of around 2.5 billion dollars.

The establishment of a joint Moroccan-Emirati committee was one of the aspects that boosted Emirati investment in the Alawi kingdom, particularly in the trade, economic and investment sectors. Not only does this trend not intend to stop there, but the intention of both countries is, as this meeting between their representatives demonstrates, to continue cooperating and covering more and more investment sectors. Not only is it a good opportunity for Morocco to ally itself with one of the regional leaders, such as the Emirates, but the kingdom's latest economic data show that the economic strength of Moroccans is growing.

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Exports have reached figures even higher than before the arrival of the pandemic. The food, electronics and automotive sectors have raised the export figure by 10% compared to the 2019 reports. Moreover, what has been one of the best seasons on record for the agricultural sector has greatly boosted the purchasing power of Moroccan families, even though the crisis situation has led to a suppressed demand for consumer goods and vehicles, so the outlook for the coming year is even better. Thus, Emirati leadership and Moroccan prosperity form an important alliance that seems to have a long way to go.

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