In early January, Morocco and China signed a joint implementation plan for projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative, as provided for in the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding on the BRI. The commercial objective is the port of Tangier, the continent’s freight distribution hub. Agreement reached on a 35% stake for Chinese companies to build a $10 billion technology hub in Ain Dalia (Tangier Tech City).
Morocco and China strengthened their cooperation when they signed the joint implementation plan of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Nasser Bourita, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice President Ning Jizhe of China’s National Commission for Reform and Development, signed the joint plan for the implementation of the belt and the road.
Launched in 2013 under the name One Belt, One road, the plan aims to facilitate trade a technological cooperation facilitate trade, research and technological cooperation; seals a strategic partnership between the two countries.
Strategic partnerships with African countries
Once implemented, the agreement is expected to see the two nations create joint ventures in the energy sector. China also promises to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Morocco by granting funds for major development projects in the African country. Morocco was the first Maghreb country to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
The convention signed by Morocco and China also provides for the inclusion of Africa to form a tripartite cooperation in the field of sustainable development. It is on the continent that China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, began his traditional first overseas trip of the year on Tuesday, January 4.
China and Morocco
Over the past five years, relations between China and Morocco have seen a significant surge in trade. In 2016, during a visit by Moroccan Ruler Mohammed VI to Beijing, the two countries entered into a series of preparatory agreements, starting with the relaxation of visa restrictions for Chinese citizens.
The following year Morocco became the first West African country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the BRI. Since 2017, Sino-Moroccan trade has grown by about 50%. China is especially tempted by the port of Tangier, the main hub for the distribution of goods on the continent. The two countries have reached an agreement on a 35% stake reserved for Chinese companies for the construction of a new technological pole in the city of Ain Dalia: the Tangier Tech City, a project worth about 10 billion dollars.
Morocco’s intention is to channel efforts for the BRI roads for the construction of railways to the southern regions, in order to link Western Sahara to the rest of the country. Or through the construction, by Chinese credits, of a terminal for liquefied natural gas, on which Rabat has been resetting its energy trajectory since Algeria deprived the passage of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline in October.
