King Mohammed VI chaired, this Saturday, December 3, 2022 at the Royal Palace in Rabat, the presentation ceremony of the new green investment program of the OCP group (2023-2027) and the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the government and the OCP group relating to this program.
This ceremony is part of the proactive orientation promoted by His Majesty the King, for several years, in terms of transition to green energies and a low-carbon economy. It comes in the wake of the working meeting chaired by the Sovereign on November 22, devoted to the development of renewable energies and new perspectives in this area.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the Chairman and CEO of the OCP group, Mostafa Terrab, presented to His Majesty the King the results of the group’s first investment program, the subject of High Royal Guidelines in 2012, and which made it possible to anchor OCP firmly in the fertilizer market. By tripling its fertilizer production capacity, the OCP group is now positioned as one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of phosphate fertilizers.
The group has relied on the research and development capacities of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in order to capture the opportunities offered by new industrial and digital technologies, and to develop expertise in innovative technologies for rational fertilization at even to meet the challenges of sustainable agriculture and food security.
Then, Terrab exhibited in front of the Sovereign, the new green investment program of the OCP group. This program revolves around increasing fertilizer production capacity while committing to achieving carbon neutrality before 2040, by leveraging the unique source of renewable energies as well as the Kingdom’s progress in this area. domain under the leadership of King Mohammed VI.
By investing in solar and wind power, the group plans to supply all of its industrial facilities with green energy by 2027. This carbon-free energy will supply the new seawater desalination capacities in order to meet both the needs of the group and the supply of drinking and irrigation water to the areas bordering the OCP sites.
This investment will help the group, the world’s leading importer of ammonia, to eventually free itself from these imports by also investing in the renewable energy sector – green hydrogen – green ammonia, allowing it to enter the green manure market with force. and fertilization solutions adapted to the specific needs of different soils and crops.
This ambition will be supported by support programs for industrial SMEs, as well as those in the energy and agriculture sectors, promoting the emergence of an innovative national ecosystem and the creation of new job and business opportunities. vocational integration for young people.
The new program, which will consolidate OCP’s global position, provides for an overall investment of around 130 billion dirhams over the period 2023-2027, the achievement of a local integration rate of 70%, support for 600 Moroccan industrial companies and the creation of 25,000 direct and indirect jobs.
To this end, the King presided over the signing of a memorandum of understanding relating to this investment program, between the government and the OCP group, represented respectively by the Ministers of the Interior, the Economy and Finance. , Equipment and Water, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies on the one hand, and by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OCP on the other hand.
The ceremony was attended by the Head of Government, the King’s Advisors and members of the government.