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Marrakech – Mehdi Tazi and Mohamed Bachiri, the sole candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency of Morocco’s General Confederation of Enterprises (CGEM), presented their program at a press conference in Casablanca on Monday. The election is set for Thursday, May 14, during the confederation’s elective general assembly.
The pair, validated by the CGEM board on April 15 following a review by the Electoral Process Monitoring Committee, outlined a platform built on five strategic pillars. They stressed that the program was shaped by consultations with all 37 CGEM federations and 12 regional chapters, drawing directly on input from business leaders across sectors and company sizes.
“This program is not ours alone,” the candidates said, describing it as a collective product of Morocco’s broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. They also stressed the need for broad mobilization over the coming three-year mandate to deliver tangible results.
Tazi and Bachiri cast their agenda against what they called a remarkable period of economic acceleration. They cited GDP growth of 4.9% over two consecutive years, a record public investment budget of MAD 380 billion ($38 billion) in 2026, and foreign direct investment reaching MAD 56 billion ($56 billion) in 2025.
The incoming 2026-2029 leadership will steer the private sector through the preparation years leading up to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which they noted represents a historic opportunity for tourism, investment, and Morocco’s global image.
They acknowledged headwinds as well, pointing to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on business. Both challenges, they argued, also present opportunities Morocco is well positioned to seize.
A five-pillar roadmap
The first axis of their program targets the business environment. It calls for a regulatory shock through administrative simplification, a shift toward compliance-based oversight with ex-post controls, reform of the labor code and local taxation, improved access to industrial land in high-demand zones, and expanded financing options for small and medium enterprises.
The second axis focuses on productive sovereignty. Priorities include accelerating industrial upgrading, raising local integration rates under the “Made in Morocco” brand, advancing the energy transition while reducing energy costs, strengthening logistics competitiveness, and reforming vocational training to better align with employer needs.
Innovation forms the third axis. The candidates pledged to contribute actively to the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy through investment in digital infrastructure, data centers, and AI adoption. They also proposed stronger support for startups, faster digitalization of small businesses, and a more operational role for the CGEM’s Morocco Innovation Lab.
The fourth axis addresses international outreach. It includes diversifying export markets, strengthening economic ties with Africa, aligning Moroccan firms with international norms and ESG standards, and leveraging the Moroccan diaspora as a source of investment and expertise.
The fifth and final axis concerns internal cohesion within the CGEM itself. Tazi and Bachiri proposed reinforcing synergies between federations, expanding cross-federation groupings, and better connecting regional and central commissions to encourage joint projects and business partnerships across territories.
The candidates concluded by saying the program is both ambitious and concrete because the moment demands it. Morocco, they argued, must maximize the returns of the current historic economic window.
Tazi is the CEO of ASK Capital and has served as CGEM’s vice-president general since 2020. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and previously led Saham Assurance. Bachiri is the managing director of Renault Group Morocco – the first Moroccan to hold that position – and chairs CGEM’s Innovation and Industrial Development Commission.
The vote on Thursday will take place during the CGEM’s ordinary elective general assembly, closing a campaign in which the Tazi-Bachiri ticket ran unopposed after formal validation last month.
