Morocco and Switzerland signed, Monday in Rabat, an amendment to the Specific Agreement for the implementation of the Global Textile and Clothing Program (GTEX), concluded on November 22, 2018, for the period 2019-2021, relating to the granting of an additional budget to the Kingdom.
Through this amendment, signed during a ceremony chaired by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, and the Swiss Ambassador to Morocco, Guillaume Scheurer, the total financial contribution granted by the Swiss Federal Council, since the launch of the program, thus amounts to nearly 17 million dirhams (MDH), indicates a press release from the ministry.
This budget extension will be granted to activities implemented for the year 2022-2023, said the same source, adding that the Moroccan government will ensure, for its part, co-financing in kind equivalent to 10% of this amount. , to cover the logistical and management aspects of the project.
The signing of this agreement gives new impetus to the partnership bringing together the two countries through the GTEX program which aims to improve the competitiveness of the Textile and Clothing sector, the press release noted.
“This project corresponds perfectly to the priorities assigned by the new government and joins the Industrial Recovery Plan in its component aimed at raising the competitiveness of the sector by providing it with the tools capable of ensuring its upscaling and strengthening of its value chain through a strong upstream and innovation, but also to respond to the ecological challenges to come ”, declared Ryad Mezzour on this occasion, affirming that Morocco aspires to become a carbon-free and circular industrial base.
The Minister also insisted on training, a fundamental axis of this partnership, which remains, according to him, “a key element constantly called upon to keep pace with developments in the sector at the global level, a sine qua non condition. so that the sector can improve its integration and position itself in new markets ”.
For his part, Guillaume Scheurer, welcomed the extension of this program, welcoming “the adaptation of GTEX to the health crisis in Morocco by the ministry and the Moroccan Association of Textile and Clothing Industries. (AMITH) ”.
“The orientation of the next two years towards digitization, social and environmental sustainability, as well as the circular economy will be particularly timely” he stressed.
In close collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investments and Exports (AMDIE) and Maroc PME, the GTEX program operates throughout the textile ecosystem and its institutions to the implementation of strategic plans, organizational overhaul, labeling, increasing the range of services and digitization.
This program has thus made it possible to support more than 30 companies from different regions through the development of a guide to financing mechanisms and the creation of a platform for connecting suppliers and producers of masks, during the health crisis. The program also assisted 14 companies in resource efficiency and the circular economy and provided five training cycles for 84 beneficiaries in, among other things, lean management, quality and marketing / branding strategy.
This capacity building has resulted in an improvement in the management capacities of beneficiaries despite the two years marked by the constraints linked to the pandemic.
Building on its success, the program will pursue its mission by focusing on upgrading companies in terms of digital marketing and their support in the decarbonization process, but also on conquering new markets, in particular through participation in trade shows. and the development of BtoB actions.
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