Marruecos y España firman una alianza para el sustento del tejido industrial
Signed by the Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, the Spanish ambassador to Morocco, Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner, the general coordinator of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in Morocco, Ignacio Martínez Boluda, and the director general of Maroc PME, Brahim Arjdal, this agreement aims to provide the CTIs of the North African country with technical support and recognised expertise from Spain. It is a project that is part of the collaboration with the AECID and has Spanish financial support. Ryad Mezzour stressed that this cooperation project "is perfectly in line with our ambitions to develop our CTIs and their services to manufacturers, particularly in the areas of innovation and R&D".
For his part, Díez-Hochleitner highlighted the exemplary nature of this programme in terms of modern Spanish-Moroccan cooperation based on collaboration in key areas such as innovation, research and development and improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are at the heart of economic and social development, in order to promote job creation. The ambassador, in turn, insisted that Spain is particularly pleased with the signing of this agreement "at a time when we have begun a new stage in the revitalisation of relations between our two Kingdoms".
According to the collaboration agreement, the parties undertake to strengthen institutional relations between Spain and Morocco through the Consortium of Moroccan Technological Centres (RECTIM), as well as to establish mechanisms for technology transfer in the areas of innovation, certification and product labelling. The collaboration also includes increasing the capacity of the CTI laboratories by providing them with additional specific equipment and ensuring the transfer of knowledge between the Spanish and Moroccan centres. The project will also allow them to increase their visibility at the national level.
Technological innovation is a real lever for the competitiveness of industrial enterprises, the creation of value and skilled employment, and the improvement of the technological level of the State. These are important factors for strengthening the sovereignty of Moroccan industry, food and health. Technological innovation is very important for the economy of the Alawi nation, as it greatly supports research and development (R&D) at the industrial level in the North African country, which is currently experiencing strong growth and is at the heart of Rabat's strategic development. The continued growth of these centres will generate approximately 400,000 jobs, of which nearly 100,000 are directly related to research and development.
David Toledano, president of RECTIM, also highlighted the action of the CTIs in favour of Morocco's industrial sovereignty, which has become the leitmotif of many countries since the outbreak of the health crisis, expressing the predisposition of industrialists to strongly defend this national independence by rebuilding local ecosystems and consolidating the national strategy. This new development plan, with a budget of 250 million dirhams, inaugurates a new partnership framework between the state and the CTIs through which the Ministry will continue to support the role of these centres in providing technical and technological support to companies.
The aim is to position them as an accelerator of innovation and industrial R&D, in particular through the development of high value-added services for the benefit of the various industrial sectors aimed at strengthening their competitiveness and the Kingdom's industrial sovereignty. Relations between Morocco and Spain, two countries united by human ties and agreements at the service of their common interests, have always favoured dialogue and discussion as a way of resolving both crises and the signing of agreements such as this one.
