The Oriental region will be a new engine of growth for Morocco, said Monday the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour.
“The launch of this project and the commissioning of the new Nador West Med port will make the Oriental a major industrial locomotive, just like the industrial ecosystems of Tangier or Casablanca”, underlined Mezzour, by videoconference during a meeting held in Oujda, on the occasion of the launch of the construction works of an automotive wiring factory of the equipment supplier group Aptiv
“This port will be accompanied, in the near future, by other investments of this type or even larger ones, with a view to strengthening competitiveness and productivity and taking advantage of the skills of the Oriental region”, he said.
The Minister hailed the confidence placed by this industrial group in Morocco, which resulted in the installation of several industrial units, as well as the efforts made by the Wilaya of the Oriental and the Council of the region with a view to support this project from the beginning and the continuous coordination with the ministry to attract promising investments for the benefit of this region.
“The natural, human and logistical potential enjoyed by the Oriental region can be taken advantage of and enhanced by exceptional projects, making it possible to create more jobs and local wealth”, he added.
Mezzour affirmed that the ministry will redouble its efforts for the study of the realization of industrial infrastructures in this region, as well as for the conclusion of partnership agreements relating to the projects which will be retained in common agreement with the regional partners.
In addition, and as part of the 2021-2023 industrial recovery strategy, which aims to substitute imports with national production, the ministry has given its agreement in principle for 56 projects in the Oriental region, particularly in the sectors of the food industry and the electrical industry, for an investment of 1.64 billion dirhams (MMDH), which should allow the creation of more than 6,000 permanent jobs and generate a turnover of more than one billion dirhams.
Mezzour affirmed that the services of the ministry, at the central and regional level, will continue to coordinate closely with the Regional Investment Center (CRI) of the Oriental and other partners, with a view to supporting the entrepreneurial initiative and financing more industrial projects in the region.
The speakers at this meeting highlighted the strengths and potentialities that the Oriental region abounds, and which are able to encourage the various economic actors to invest and settle in this region.
They also noted the importance of Aptiv’s “mega-factory” in Oujda, which will contribute to the economic development of the Oriental region as well as to the strengthening of Morocco’s competitiveness in the automotive sector.
The new factory of the Aptiv group will spread over an area of 8 ha in the industrial acceleration zone of the Oujda Technopole, for a total investment of nearly 394 million dirhams (MDH).
The project, which should allow the creation of more than 3,000 direct jobs, is the result of a partnership between the Wilaya of the Oriental, the CRO, the CRI, the company MedZ and Aptiv.
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