[2007-11-28]  Arab Gulf investors eye new opportunities in Moroccan market
Morocco has offered significant investment opportunities to Gulf investors in recent years. A forum in Rabat on Wednesday (November 20th) and Thursday brought together Moroccan businessmen and Gulf investors, creating opportunities for joint ventures beyond real estate and tourism.

According to Jamal Attari, director of the Gharb-Chrarda-Béni Hssen regional investment centre, the GULFINVEST meeting represented an opportunity to meet directly with Arab investors and initiate lasting economic relations with them.

The forum addressed moving beyond existing real estate and tourism investments to other sectors such as industry, agribusiness, mining and energy resources, new technologies, communications, information and finance.

President of the Gulf Chambers of Commerce and Industry Union, Salah Salem Ben Ameir Shamsi, encouraged Arab investors to consider non-traditional fields and to forge strategic partnerships with Moroccan operators. Shamsi said investment opportunities in Morocco are promising.

"A number of foreign countries are showing confidence in Morocco and have invested there. This demonstrates that the country’s laws favour investment and that the Moroccan authorities are encouraging and supporting foreign investors," he said.

Shamsi called on Gulf investors to capitalise on Morocco’s supply of qualified labour and high-quality technical expertise. He also underlined the need to create large-scale tourist centres and investment bodies capable of competing with multinationals.

Chairman of the board of the Saudi stock market company "Moubashir", Mohamed Al Balaa, expressed a desire to link Morocco with the Arab stock markets which could have positive repercussions on the national economy. He said that the annual volume of transactions across the various Middle East stock markets exceeded 800 billion dollars through October 2007.

Director-General of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organisation, Mohamed Ben Youssef, said Morocco should appeal to investors because of the country’s political stability, key infrastructure, flexible economic system, favourable legislation on investment and good education system.

He noted that Morocco's manufacturing industry is a major growth sector and contributes approximately 16% of the country’s GDP. The renewable energy sector also looks promising for Arab investors, he said, given the lack of hydrocarbon resources in Morocco and its proximity to markets in need of such resources.


Source: copyright(c)2007 Magharebia ltd.