The Moroccan-American relations, as centuries-old as they are strategic, constitute an eloquent consecration of the Kingdom's role as a gateway to Africa and of a natural unity with its international partners such as the United States.

In the past year, two high-level events have particularly illustrated this pioneering role played at the highest level of the State in favour of the stability and prosperity of the continent: the organization of the United States-Africa Business Summit in Morocco (July 19-22), and active participation in the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit, held in Washington (December 13-15).

For analysts, these two summits reflect the solid attachment of the Kingdom, under the enlightened leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, to its natural belonging to Africa and its firm commitment to supporting the stability and sustained development of the continent.

They also highlight the important and promising prospects of the partnership between Africa and the United States in the areas of trade, investment and business, capitalizing on the free trade agreement signed in 2004 between Rabat and Washington. With a view to an inclusive and lasting partnership or the American programs geared towards supporting economic development in Africa, such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

Morocco works to deepen ties with African countries

Morocco is a “great leader” in Africa which is developing “important” relations with many countries, underlined in this regard by Alain Ebobissé, managing director of Africa 50; a pan-African infrastructure investment platform.

“Under the enlightened leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, Morocco enjoys great leadership in Africa through important relations” with several countries, Ebobissé said in a statement to the press on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit.

And for good reason, the integrated and inclusive partnership between Morocco, Africa and the United States is at the heart of the Kingdom's priorities, as stated by the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, who represented HM the King at the work of this summit in the US federal capital. Recalling that the United States remains a “distinguished partner” of the African continent, Mr Akhannouch noted that Morocco puts its experience and expertise at the disposal of strengthening the economic and commercial partnership between the two parties. The kingdom of Morocco is working to deepen its economic and commercial relations with African countries and the United States of America. Thanks to several assets, in particular its unique geographical position, at the crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, Africa and America, infrastructure meeting international standards and young, qualified human resources thanks to the quality of training.

Morocco's assets of trade links between Africa and the USA

The proximity of the European and American markets, the structuring of projects in terms of solar and wind energy, in addition to the new investment charter, equipped with an attractive and encouraging system, are considerable assets for the kingdom to construct a win-win partnership that will benefit from the advantages and potentialities of the African Free Trade Area to further develop activities on the continent as well as on the framework of joint action for energy security that offers the gas pipeline project between Morocco and Nigeria.

This project aims to transport more than 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the region, which will stimulate the production of electricity and contribute to improving access to energy in the crossed countries, thus contributing to securing the global energy future.

Both in Marrakech and Washington, Morocco highlights the excellent cooperation between Rabat and Washington in various fields, particularly within the framework of the free trade agreement, as well as its fruitful African strategy desired and encouraged by HM King.

Perfectly matching words with deeds, the Kingdom is a major investor in Africa and is a hub for talent, financing and innovation on the continent.

At the Leaders' Summit in Washington, held under the aegis of US President Joe Biden, Morocco showcased its successes and reiterated its commitment to capitalize on its achievements to attract more investors to the country but also in favour of the whole country. Africa, particularly in two particularly strategic areas in this situation: food security and energy autonomy.

Morocco's developing economy advances its partnership

Emphasis was thus placed on the Kingdom's great potential in the agricultural sector, particularly concerning fertilizers in this difficult period, as well as Morocco's assets in the energy transition and green energy sectors.

To the American representative for foreign trade, Ms Katherine Tai, the United States, which is "very proud" of the free trade agreement with Morocco, considers it important to continue to advance this partnership given the new challenges the world, in particular the decarbonization of economies and digitalization. Fully committed to making the voice of the continent heard and establishing its leadership in international forums, Morocco advocates a dynamic development and sustained and inclusive partnership that puts the human element at the heart of its priorities. The ambition is to establish the social state, now an imperative to transcend the horrors of the Covid pandemic and the cascading crises that the world is experiencing today.