The Alawi kingdom has been seen as the gateway to Africa for all European investors

Marruecos se postula como el mejor destino para el comercio exterior en IMEX Madrid

photo_camera Esteban Requero Antón

Morocco remains one of the best destinations for Spanish companies that want to establish trade links with Africa, and with this premise has started the Internationalisation Week 2022 held in Madrid. Several consulting companies between Spain and Morocco have been present at this IMEX Fair, which aims to become the epicentre of international business for Spanish SMEs that want to expand into foreign markets, building bridges between the two continents.

One of these companies is Nantai Trade Consulting, and its representative at IMEX, Esteban Requero Antón, has been one of the speakers at the fair. Entitled "Morocco, post-pandemic investment", Requero analysed the market opportunities offered by the Alawi Kingdom for trade with it.

The speaker began his speech by offering some data on the country to provide the necessary information for all those interested in learning more about Morocco and its current situation, highlighting the figures that reveal the country's economic balance, such as the increase in GDP per capita, and even the construction of railways, roads, highways, motorways, ports and airports, which are essential for commercial development.

Along with this, Requero mentioned some recommendations for the Moroccan market, stating that "we must make an effort to understand the country, its culture and its historical aspects" and that "we must put ourselves in the shoes of those we want to visit". Other processes such as obtaining quality advice and having a trustworthy manager who "knows Morocco and is fluent in French" are also other aspects that any company interested in trade with the Kingdom must take into account.

But what the speaker insisted on is what makes Morocco an attractive country: geographical proximity, bilateral agreements with the European Union and, therefore, with Spain, the fact that it is a country open to the outside world and with ambitions for growth, and Morocco's objective of wanting to create a European business model to transfer it to the rest of Africa, and it is especially in this last aspect that the idea that the Alawi country is the gateway to all trade with Africa is developed
Esteban Requero

And for this, according to the speaker, what private companies need is security in order to invest: "It is a country of opportunities because it has guarantees and security for investments".

But, referring to the title of the presentation itself, in relation to post-pandemic investment in Morocco, Esteban Requero mentioned the Moroccan government's policies for dealing with this situation. The industrial acceleration plans (PAI) is one of them, which has improved the situation of companies, workers and competitiveness, as well as financing, structures and international agreements. Other challenges that are established with this is to ensure that Morocco has a greater weight of its business fabric in GDP and to promote Industry 4.0 with the rest of the countries and, above all, to protect the natural resources of the Maghreb country.

Spain is the leading exporter to Morocco, a relevant fact in terms of building bridges between other countries. "Morocco is an outward-looking country, a member of the World Trade Organisation, which has made agreements with the United States and the European Union and is the gateway to the African continent", explained the representative of Nantai Trade Consulting in his presentation. He pointed out the index of ease of doing business in which Spain is ranked 31st and Morocco 53rd, something which, in comparison with other Maghreb countries such as Algeria, which is ranked 157th, is a further incentive for this Spanish-Moroccan link.

Moreover, Morocco's accession to the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Agreement offers a series of tax advantages, tariff benefits and reduced transit times for goods.

Finally, the intervention has not been isolated from everything that has happened in politics, since the diplomatic normality between Madrid and Rabat is once again boosting their ties through the opening of borders and the agreements reached, which are, according to Esteban Requero, the basis and the best thing that could happen for business between the two countries.

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