A CONVERSATION WITH MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE OF MOROCCO RYAD MEZZOUR - Morocco is a major hub for international investments, representing one of Africa’s largest economies. Strategically located at the intersection between major waterways, Morocco prides itself on being the “gateway to Africa” for international investments. In June 2019, Morocco opened an extension of the Tangier-Med commercial shipping port, making it the largest in Africa and the Mediterranean; the government is developing a third phase for the port which will increase capacity to five million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Morocco boasts seventy-two bilateral investment treaties with countries across the globe, and sixty-two economic agreements, plus is the only African country to have a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, which was signed in 2004. Since the treaty has entered into force, trade between the two countries has increased five-fold with the United States becoming Morocco’s top foreign direct investor overtaking France in 2021.

How have investments and trade grown over time? What benefits have these brought to the United States and Morocco? Will both countries continue to benefit from the Free Trade Agreement signed twenty years ago? How can other African and MENA countries learn from the Moroccan model? These questions were discussed at the Atlantic Council headquarters during a debate with Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 07/02/2024