Marrakech – Morocco and the United Arab Emirates have successfully concluded negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).
The final touches have been put on the provisions of this historic agreement, which the two countries hope will usher in a new era of shared economic growth in the course of bilateral relations, officials announced Monday.
Ryad Mezzour, Morocco’s Minister of Industry and Trade, and Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, signed a joint statement announcing the successful completion of the talks and the finalization of the agreement’s provisions.
“This agreement goes beyond the scope of liberalizing trade exchanges to include many areas related to investments and economic cooperation, making it a model framework for establishing a solid foundation to elevate the level of joint cooperation in the economic and investment fields,” Mezzour said.
Al Zeyoudi also welcomed the successful conclusion of the CEPA negotiations with Morocco.
“The CEPA between the UAE and Morocco is an important addition to the program of global economic agreements that the UAE continues to implement,” the Emirati minister stated.
“The aim is to expand our network of trade and investment partners around the world by concluding promising partnerships with markets of strategic importance regionally and internationally on the map of international trade.”
The agreement, which is expected to be officially signed at a later date and then ratified and entered into force, aims to stimulate the free flow of goods and services between the two countries by removing unnecessary trade barriers, creating flexible rules of origin for goods, improving access to markets for services, and enhancing customs coordination.
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The CEPA also establishes new platforms to stimulate the flow of mutual investments and build partnerships between the private sector and business communities on both sides. It focuses on priority sectors such as renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure, mining, food security, transportation, logistics, information technology, and communications.
Non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and Morocco has flourished in recent months, reaching $1.3 billion in 2023, an increase of 30% compared to 2022 and a growth of more than 83% over its pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
The UAE is also the largest Arab investor in Morocco, with total investments of $15 billion in a variety of strategic projects.
Morocco is the sixth-largest economy in Africa. In 2023, its GDP reached $152.4 billion and is expected to grow by 3.5% by the end of 2024.
There are promising prospects for the growth and development of the Moroccan economy, especially the services sector, which is the largest contributor to GDP at 54%, and the industrial sector, which contributes 23%.
The CEPA program notably aims to expand the UAE’s network of trade and investment partners to achieve its strategic goal of bringing the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade to AED 4 trillion by 2031.
