The French Development Agency (AFD) group is planning significant investments worth around €150 million in Morocco’s southern provinces,announced the Agency’s CEO,Rémy Rioux.
Rioux,who is on a working visit to Morocco at the head of a high-level delegation,said at a press briefing,in Laayoune on Saturday,that “the AFD Group will now invest in the southern regions,bringing both investments and financing.”
The Agency’s CEO highlighted the major investments already achieved in the southern provinces,noting that AFD can “contribute additional expertise and financing.”
He also expressed how “deeply impressed” he has been by the investments and the quality of infrastructure in the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region,which help create jobs and meet the expectations of young people in Morocco’s southern regions.
In this context,he welcomed the establishment of private enterprises and industrial zones in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra,emphasizing that AFD’s investments in the southern provinces send a strong signal to economic stakeholders “by offering financing solutions.”
Rioux added that AFD will further strengthen its cooperation with the OCP Group in the field of applied research,particularly in agriculture,recalling the recent signing in Rabat of a major financing agreement focused on decarbonizing the Group’s value chain.
During the visit,the AFD delegation members held meetings with local officials and elected representatives,and were informed on the regional and municipal development programs. They were also briefed on various development projects carried under the new Development Model for the Southern Provinces,launched by King Mohammed VI in 2015.
The meetings in Laayoune also provided the French delegation with insight into the region’s dynamic and wide-ranging development efforts,as well as the programs and projects aimed at positioning it as a strategic hub.
During the visit,members of the French delegation conducted field trips to several social,educational,and economic projects,where they observed first-hand the extensive efforts made to ensure integrated development in the region.
They visited the port of Laayoune,where they were briefed on commercial traffic and fish landings at the facility,as well as on the planned expansion of the port infrastructure.
The delegation members also visited the African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI),where they got informed on the institution’s missions.
The delegation of the Agency,which is confirming the extension of its mandate to the Southern Provinces,will also visit Dakhla.
Rémy Rioux had pointed out in a statement to the media following a meeting with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita that “the Southern Provinces represent a strategic link with Sub-Saharan Africa in the Atlantic coast,” and emphasized that this constitutes “a very important action framework” for the AFD group.
The visit by the AFD delegation to the Moroccan Sahara is part of the Enhanced Exceptional Partnership established between King Mohammed VI and President Emmanuel Macron,during the latter’s state visit to Morocco in October 2024. It reflects the shared determination to strengthen the already rich bilateral cooperation and to support inclusive and sustainable development dynamics across all regions of the Kingdom.
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