Rabat – Morocco’s government seeks to see more engagement from Moroccans abroad in terms of investments.
The country’s Delegate Minister in charge of Moroccans living abroad (MREs), Nezha El Ouafi, introduced on Thursday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “action report” for the year 2020, reviewing the structural reforms recently launched to deal with the repercussions of the crisis.
She also discussed policies and work programs that seek to address the challenges of Morocco’s post-pandemic economic outlook, including measures to meet the demands of Morocans living abroad.
“The project was developed as part of the mobilization of Moroccan skills residing abroad,” the minister said.
She explained that one area that merits particular attention are projections that the number of skilled Moroccans residing abroad is set to exponentially grow in the coming years. Specifically, the figures are expected to jump from 4,500 to 10,000 skilled MREs by 2030.
Under the ministry’s national plan program, Morocco seeks to mobilize 500,000 investors by 2030 as part of the implementation of the national skills mobilization program.
According to El Ouafi, the project will also include honing and sustaining Morocco’s cultural appeal overseas. Part of the goal, she insisted, will be to highlight the importance of culture by developing and adapting Morocco’s cultural sphere to strengthen emerging Moroccan generations’ ties with their homeland.
The number of MREs is currently estimated at over five million across the world. Their contribution to
Morocco’s economy is considered to be one of the key pillars of the country’s largely upbeat economic outlook.
Recent statistics show that remeticcances of Moroccans residing abroad increased by 2.2% at the end of September, reaching about MAD 50.5 billion ($5.52 billion).
The flow of remittances remained high despite the COVID-19 crisis. In the early days of the pandemic, Morocco’s government declared a state of emergency and closed sea, air, and land borders to avoid the spread of the pandemic.
The decision affected thousands of Moroccans abroad, many of whom have a penchant for spending seasonal holidays at home.
COVID-19 also impacted Moroccan tourists who were abroad at the time of the border closure in March, and some of them had to wait more than two months to be able to travel back home.
Morocco had to launch special flights to help Moroccans residing abroad return to their countries of residence and to bring back Moroccans stranded abroad.
As of November 5, the number of COVID-19 cases in Morocco reached 240,951, including 4,059, and 197,215 recoveries.
