Marrakech – A delegation of French business leaders arrived in Dakhla on Monday for a two-day economic prospecting mission aimed at exploring investment opportunities in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region.
The Regional Investment Center (CRI) of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab organized the mission. Its goal is to present the region’s economic and institutional ecosystem and its promising sectors, while encouraging partnerships between French operators and their regional counterparts.
At a meeting held at the wilaya headquarters, the region’s secretary general, Abderrazak El Gourji, told the delegation that Dakhla-Oued Eddahab is going through sustained economic and social momentum, driven by the vision of King Mohammed VI.
El Gourji pointed to Dakhla’s strategic location as a gateway to Africa. He cited the prospects opened by the future Dakhla Atlantic port and the Royal Atlantic Initiative for Sahel countries, along with the region’s potential across fishing, tourism, agriculture, industry, and renewable energy.
The director of France’s Centre de perfectionnement aux affaires (CPA France), Bernard Gaillot, described the mission as a chance for participants to better understand the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. He added that it would let them compare their experiences with those of Moroccan counterparts and identify potential investment opportunities.
El Khattat Yanja, president of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab Regional Council, told participants that the region’s economic potential offers wide opportunities for French companies. He pointed to the blue economy, aquaculture, renewable energy, water desalination, agriculture, and tourism.
Yanja also raised the prospect of triangular cooperation between Morocco, France, and African countries. He invited French operators to seize the region’s opportunities and help strengthen economic partnerships between the two countries.
Nihal Azzouz, director of investment at the Ministry of Investment, presented the main lines of the kingdom’s investment policy. These include the new Investment Charter, efforts to improve the business climate, and support mechanisms for investors.
The CRI’s interim director, Faysal Sahmani, described the mission as an opportunity to discover the region’s potential and lay the foundations for durable partnerships. He reaffirmed the center’s commitment to support investors at each stage of their projects.
Delegation members also attended a presentation on the region’s main productive sectors and its investment opportunities. The mission program includes institutional meetings, visits to major economic sites, and business exchanges between French and Moroccan operators.
The visit comes as France deepens its economic engagement in Morocco’s southern provinces, following its 2024 shift on the Western Sahara. On July 30 of that year, President Emmanuel Macron told King Mohammed VI that Paris considers the territory’s present and future to lie within Moroccan sovereignty. He endorsed Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Plan as the only basis for a settlement under the United Nations framework.
That position opened the way for Macron’s state visit to Morocco in October 2024, when the two sides signed a declaration establishing an Enhanced Exceptional Partnership. The visit produced economic agreements worth more than €10 billion across energy, infrastructure, industry, and transportation.
Paris has since carried the shift into the southern provinces. In February 2025, then-Culture Minister Rachida Dati visited Laayoune and Dakhla, becoming the first French government minister to do so.
Dakhla then hosted a Morocco-France Economic Forum on October 9, 2025, organized by the employers’ confederations CGEM and MEDEF. The event drew more than 300 business leaders, investors, and diplomats, with the Dakhla Atlantic port figuring prominently in the discussions.
The momentum carried into 2026. In July, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu traveled to Rabat for the 15th Morocco-France High-Level Meeting, the first since December 2019. It gathered 12 French ministers and produced about 20 bilateral agreements.
Read also: New French Ambassador Picks Laayoune for First Official Visit, Backs Autonomy Plan
