Souss Massa a target for the chineese

After the city Rabat, Agadir will host the « Moroccan-Chinese Friendship Forum» . This second edition  will be held from 26th to 28th March 2018 and will mobilize financial resources of 2 MDH. It will be initiated by the Regional Council Souss Massa in partnership with the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and  the Morocco-China Friendship and Exchanges Association with the aim of fostering  the development of the sino-Moroccan bilateral cooperation.

For the first Vice-President of the Regional Council Souss Massa Abdeljabbar El Kastalani :”The bilateral relations between Morocco and China are not recent but historically are rooted in 60 years of diplomatic relations, when Morocco was the second country to recognize the People's Republic of China in November 1958 » For this reason the two parties need to to strengthen  the economic cooperation and also commercial exchange,  as the balance of trade between them is weighted in favour of China.

The Forum will host 20 chineese delegations from 10 chinese cities and different  provinces and regions and the presence of 218 persons representing the public and parivate  sectors, mainly  shaipyard, pharmaceutical industry and agriculture et other sectors” , as stated Mohamed Khalil, the President of the Morocco-China Friendship and Exchanges Association, that was created in 2012 in Casablanca with the aim  to promote the relationships between the two countries.

During the forum, many memoranda of understanding will be signed to strengthen the exchange relations between the two countries through the implementation of oppurtunuities of  decentralized cooperation  between the Region Souss Massa and  different disricts and region  hosted in the forum. « The forum is a first step, but an oppurtunity to promote our region through emplyment development, but also creating added value through the ecosystems that can be developped after the regain of confidence between the two parties’’, commented Karim Achengli, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services in the Region Souss Massa.

In this regard, “ the increase of salaries and high production costs in China are the main reasons for the delocalization of the chineese businesses to guarantee their profitability margin. For this reason they are oriented towards Africa and    investing in Morocco is quite a priority for them”, confirmed Khalil Nazih, the Director of the Regional Investment Center of the Region Souss Massa. Based on this observation, the Center has already planned an industrial zone for textile industry  with an adapted regional offer to meet the needs and expectations of the chineese investors.

 From the point of view of  the Regional Agency for Project Execution “the forum has to take into account the adaptation of the different sectors in the region, mainly the upstream integration of the industrial sector of the region  to match the needs od the private chineese sector , especially shipyard , agrotechnology and tourism” ,said Hakim Bouhoute, the Director of the Regional Agency for Project Execution Souss Massa. Furthermore, the region Souss Massa organized exploration missions in China and hosted many chineese delegations representing different sectors such as agriculture, fishery, tourism, shipyard, pharmaceutical industry and others.