One of the most significant outcomes of the visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Morocco this week is the signing of a series of investment agreements valued at nearly €10 billion, marking one of the largest foreign investment pledges in the Maghreb and Mediterranean region.

The French President and King Mohammed VI of Morocco personally oversaw the signing of 22 contracts, signalling a renewed commitment to economic partnership and cooperation.

The agreements were finalized during Macron’s State visit to Rabat, where he was accompanied by his wife, Brigitte, and a substantial delegation of French ministers, business leaders, and intellectuals.

The contracts cover multiple sectors, including high-speed rail, green hydrogen, shipping, and aerospace.

Among the key highlights, French engineering group Alstom committed to supplying Morocco with up to 18 high-speed trains and will assist in building the high-speed rail connection between Tangier and Marrakech.

This expanded transport network aims to enhance connectivity in the region and boost economic mobility.

Also prominently featured was a partnership between TotalEnergies and Morocco’s government to develop the nation’s green hydrogen infrastructure, a move that demonstrates  Morocco’s ambitions to become a renewable energy leader in Africa.

French energy giant Engie also signed an agreement with Morocco’s OCP to advance Morocco’s energy transition toward more sustainable and renewable solutions.

The French Development Agency (AFD), meanwhile, committed €350 million to aid Morocco’s efforts to decarbonize its phosphate industry, a critical part of the nation’s economy.

Furthermore, EDF, the French electric utility, pledged to expand Morocco’s Taza wind farm, a venture aimed at meeting Morocco’s rising energy demands while reducing carbon emissions.

CMA CGM, France’s leading shipping company, announced a partnership with Marsa Maroc to co-manage the Nador West Med port, a strategic northern hub expected to handle over 1 million TEUs annually.

This 25-year agreement will expand the port’s capacity, making it a critical gateway for trade across the Mediterranean.

Rounding out the agreements, French aerospace giant Safran will establish a 25,000 square-meter LEAP engine maintenance facility in Casablanca, scheduled to open by 2026.

The plant aims to support Morocco’s growing role in the aviation industry and bolster Safran’s global maintenance network.

President Macron’s visit will conclude on Wednesday, and is poised to leave behind a strengthened Franco-Moroccan partnership with a focus on sustainable development, connectivity, and industrial growth.

Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI has reiterated the kingdom’s commitment towards the gas pipeline project with Nigeria.

He  stressed the potential benefits that the project could bring not only to Africa but also Europe.

The monarch made his remarks during a speech marking the 48th anniversary of the Green March – an annual event that celebrates Moroccans’ march against the Spanish colonization of Morocco’s southern provinces.

The Green March was a mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and military, to force Spain  to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan Province  of Spanish Sahara  to Morocco.

At that time, the Spanish government was preparing to abandon the territory as part of the decolonisation of Africa,  just as it had previously granted independence to Equatorial Guinea in 1968

In his speech, King Mohammed VI emphasized the large-scale projects involving Morocco, including the pipeline project with Nigeria, which aims to benefit over 400 million people in West Africa

The pipeline is set to connect 11 countries in the region to benefit from Nigerian gas sources. Reiterating Morocco’s efforts in contributing to African development, the King acknowledged the challenges that hamper African countries’ advancement.

“The region along the Atlantic coast suffers from a significant deficit in infrastructure, and investment, despite skilled human capital and abundant natural resources,” the King said, stressing that Morocco has been working with other African countries to  tackle the situation.

“The Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline strategic project is part of that endeavor,” he added, saying that the project is designed to promote regional integration as well as to boost joint economic growth.

“It will also guarantee energy supplies for European countries,” the monarch asserted.

Morocco is set to host over 1,600 kilometers of the project, which is 5,600 kilometers long in total.

Several reports have emphasized the importance of the project, stressing that investors are expected to dedicate a budget of $25 billion to carry it out.

Initiated first by King Mohammed VI and former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari in 2016, the pipeline seeks to promote regional integration as well as reinforcing African energy security.

The project is also generating unwavering support from many countries, which signed Memoranda of Understanding with Morocco’s and Nigeria’s petroleum and hydrocarbon companies.

Last year, several other countries signed agreements with Morocco, including Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.

This is not the first time that King Mohammed VI celebrates the project as a milestone for Africa. During last year’s Green March speech, said that the gas pipeline is a ”project for peace for African economic integration and for co-development: a project for the present and for the future generations.”

Full Speech of King Mohammed VI on 48th Anniversary of the Green March

 

 

Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI has highlighted the need for greater participation in international organisations. That was the theme of the message sent to the participants at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) holding in Marrakech, Morocco.

The meeting ends on Sunday. He told the delegates that  “as an African nation, Morocco fervently hopes that the continent – which now has a voice within the G20 through the African Union – will be able to hold its rightful place in other international bodies and thus push forward its economic and social agendas.”

“African countries are among the nations that are suffering the most from the consequences of climate change, even though they are among the countries whose activities contribute the least to global warming”, wrote the King in this message, which was read out by Omar Kabbaj, Advisor to His Majesty the King.

In this regard, the King called for re-adapting the rules and frameworks governing debt to take better account of the constraints which affect the ability of the most indebted low-income countries to be proactive and tackle fluctuations.

“By 2050, Africa will be home to a quarter of the world’s population. It should benefit, today, from conditions that enable it to broaden its room for manoeuvre and harness its potential to meet the needs of African populations in an increasingly uncertain, unsettled world marked by profound paradigm shifts,” remarked King Mohammed VI.

He also recalled that Morocco has have made South-South cooperation a priority in its open door policy, “pursuing in this regard an approach based on co-development with our sister nations and friends on the continent.”