Marrakech – Morocco’s ambassador to Argentina, Fares Yassir, used the third edition of the Santa Fe Business Forum in Rosario to press for a deeper trade relationship, describing the two economies as natural complements with room to grow.
Yassir addressed the forum on its opening day, Sunday, August 31, an event inaugurated by Santa Fe Governor Maximiliano Pullaro, and spoke separately with Cadena 3 radio from the city’s riverfront. The interview was conducted by Lucas Correa.
His presentation, delivered mid-afternoon, carried the title “Infrastructure and logistics: accelerating engine of Morocco’s industrialization.” The third edition of the Santa Fe Business Forum runs from August 31 through September 4 in Rosario.
Trade with the province has grown steadily, according to the ambassador. Santa Fe consistently ranks among Morocco’s leading commercial partners across all of Argentina, alongside Buenos Aires and Córdoba.
🇲🇦 EL EMBAJADOR DE MARRUECOS DESTACÓ EL POTENCIAL DE SANTA FE
En el marco del Santa Fe Business Forum, que se desarrolla en Rosario, Fares Yassir, embajador del Reino de Marruecos en Argentina habló con Cadena 3.
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— Cadena 3 Rosario (@Cadena3_Rosario) August 31, 2026
Agro-industrial goods anchor the exchange. The province “exports food security” to Morocco, Yassir explained, pointing to grains, oils, and soy derivatives. In the other direction, Morocco ships phosphorus fertilizers – “the king of products,” in his words – along with phosphoric acids that feed Argentine soil and industry, while auto parts move both ways.
That structure, he argued, leaves both sides with untapped ground. “The economies of the two countries are complementary,” Yassir remarked, and “the potential is enormous.” He raised the prospect of Argentina becoming Morocco’s principal partner in South America.
Yassir, who told the station he has spent seven years posted in Argentina, spoke warmly of the country before turning to his own. Rosario “is a city that grabs you,” he remarked, one with “a magic,” singling out its riverfront promenade and its nightlife.
“So I envy you,” he told his hosts, before adding that “Morocco has its own charm.” He credited that draw at home to the country’s high-level logistics, which he said enabled “a quantitative leap in every sense” for Morocco’s economy and industry.
Much of his forum talk centered on how Morocco turned its geography into commercial leverage. He pointed to the country’s rail program, noting that “the first bullet train of Africa” runs from Tangier to Casablanca, with a Rabat-Marrakech line under construction and a Marrakech-Agadir extension planned toward the south.
Ports drew equal attention. The Tanger Med complex, built on the Strait of Gibraltar, handles 11 million containers a year, which Yassir framed as the top logistics hub in the Mediterranean and Africa. The location was deliberate. Roughly 100,000 ships and millions of tons of cargo cross Gibraltar, traffic that once passed “in front of our nose.”
New rail links, airports, and industrial and free zones followed, supporting sectors such as automotive manufacturing and placing Morocco among Africa’s largest vehicle producers.
The diplomat tied that record back to his hosts. Argentina is expanding its own infrastructure, he acknowledged, though he cast a network connecting production centers to ports, and from there to foreign markets, as the decisive piece.
His central proposal was a strategic partnership built on mutual access. Morocco, Yassir explained, wants to serve as “the gateway for Argentina to Africa and the Mediterranean and the Arab world.” The arrangement would run both ways, with Argentina opening a path for Morocco into Mercosur and the wider South American market.
