Morocco and Mauritania to Accelerate Trade and Joint Investments

Fez – The National Union of Mauritanian Employers (UNPM) and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) are hosting the third edition of the Mauritania-Morocco Economic Forum, reported French-speaking news outlet Le 360.

The event began yesterday, February 21, in Nouakchott, and several important officials from the two countries are in attendance. According to Le 360, these include the presidents of both the UNPM and CGEM, as well as 300 Mauritanian and Moroccan businessmen.

The forum intends to identify co-investment projects, particularly in the agriculture, fishing, agri-food, energy, and infrastructure sectors.

The Mauritania-Morocco Economic Forum aims at accelerating the pace of the partnership between the two neighboring countries. This objective was actualized through the creation of a task force, by the CGEM and the UNPM. This working group is responsible for supporting the implementation of investment projects and ensuring their monitoring.

According to Hamid Chabar, Moroccan ambassador to Mauritania, trade between the two countries reached $300 million (MAD 3 billion) at the end of 2022, marking an increase of 58% compared to the year before, with fruits and vegetables only representing 23% of these exchanges.

Chakib Alj, president of the CGEM, believes that this forum constitutes a decisive step after the first two editions, which served to identify investment niches. The next forum will take place in two years, said SNRTNews outlet.

Agriculture, livestock farming, fishing, agro-industry, infrastructure, and green energy, all have a great development potential and shall be the subject of future B2B meetings, Alj added.

For his part, Abdelaziz Taariji, president of the Morocco-Mauritania Business Forum, said he is discussing with his Mauritanian counterparts the prospect of developing cooperation in the field of agriculture.

Once cooperation opportunities have been identified, Mauritanian and Moroccan businessmen will have to move on to the next stage, that of carrying out the projects.

Economic relations between Morocco and Mauritania are currently mainly based on trade. Morocco accounts for 30% of Mauritania’s trade with Africa, making it the country’s largest African trading partner.

Morocco and Mauritania enjoy a robust trading relationship. As of 2021, Morocco’s exports to Mauritania stood at $282 million (MAD 2.82 billion), according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Meanwhile, Mauritania’s exports to Morocco reached $1.6 million (MAD 0.16 billion) in the same year.