Moroccan companies are increasing exchanges at the international level to sustain their. A rapprochement between Moroccan and foreign companies took place through the E-SISTEP (subcontracting, supply, and partnership fair) this past week, with the goal of rejuvenating the productive sector and contributing to what many of them appeared to describe as post-COVID resurrection.
This year’s edition of the E-SISTEP event, which ran between October 5-7 and was organized in digital format on the initiative of the Federation of the Metallurgical, Mechanical, and Electromechanical Industry (FIMME), is part of Morocco’s goal to accelerate its dynamic digital transformation, particularly in terms of industry and innovation.
The event attracted nearly 2,000 exhibitors, speakers, and visitors from eight countries. As such, it provided an opportunity to discuss topics such as digitization and its role in the metallurgical, mechanical, and electromechanical industries (IMME), as well as the emergence of “IMME 4.0” and its significance in enhancing industrial companies’ competitiveness.
Under the aegis of the Moroccan Ministry of Industry, Trade, and the Green and Digital Economy, this year’s E-SISTEP gathering saw the participation of David Govrin, Head of the Israeli diplomatic mission in Morocco.
Lawrence Randolph, Consul General of the United States of America in Casablanca, also attended the show alongside many other high-profile Moroccan and international industrialists from Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The collaborative team of organizers consisted of Tarik Aitri, President of FIMME; Vice-President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), Mohamed Bachiri; event organizer, Ibtissam Cherradi Pendeliau and Board Member of the Israeli-Moroccan chamber of commerce, and Tamar Saraga among several other contributors.
During the event, Bachiri emphasized Morocco’s progress in industrialization, particularly in the automobile and aerospace sectors. He highlighted the importance of promoting “Made in Morocco” and adapting Moroccan companies to the logic of “Industry 4.0,” which will allow advanced technologies to be integrated into production processes.
In his opening speech, Aitri stressed the collaborative framework of the event and its objective to place Morocco at the “heart” of a real platform for exchange and allow it to identify new growth sectors and actors.
Working closely with Moroccan organizers of the event from Tel Aviv, Saraga also expressed her reassured vision of promising projects set to take place as a result of growing Moroccan-Israeli collaboration.
In an exclusive call with Morocco World News, she highlighted, “There could not have been a better international event than E-SISTEP 2021, organized by Morocco’s FIMME MAROC for all industries, to have for the first time an Israeli delegation to share about the potential contribution and collaboration to Morocco’s priorities.”
The program included three Israeli experts on Industry 4.0, Yariv Lotan, Jameel Istaitih, and Agmon David Porat, who respectively led different panels, virtual interactive booths with companies like Nation Central, Nano Dimension, Qsee, Siraj Technologies, and Trunovate, as well as an Israeli-led workshop with Ambassador David Govrin and Einat Levi.
For Saraga, the 2021 E-SISTEP was part of a broader and shared ambition to further the newly normalized but longstanding and exponentially growing connections between Moroccan and Israeli companies and business actors.
As it highlighted growth and investment potential in the North African country, the event served to send the message of the need to accelerate Israeli-Morocan cooperation in value-generating fields like hightech and heavy industries, she said.
