Royal Activities
Monday 25 May 2015

HM the King and Senegalese head of state chair ceremony to set up Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group

HM the King and Senegalese head of state chair ceremony to set up Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group

HM King Mohammed VI and Senegalese president Macky Sall chaired, on Monday in the presidential palace in Dakar, the ceremony to set up the Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group.

The Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group is a body established by the two countries to structure and spur their economic partnership relations, promote co-emergence, encourage partnership between the two countries' private sectors and monitor the implementation of private-private and public-private agreements between the two countries.

 The inception of the new group is an implementation of HM the Kings instructions to further strengthen ties with Senegal, a sister country with which Morocco has a fruitful and multi-faceted cooperation.

 It is also in line with the vision of the two leaders, HM King Mohammed VI and President Macky Sall, to make bilateral cooperation a model in Africa.

 The new instrument, which was the subject of a memorandum of understanding inked last Thursday in Dakar, before HM the King and Senegal's president, shows the diversity of agreements existing between Morocco and Senegal, and the shared will to broaden their scope of cooperation.

 The Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group, which will convene twice a year, is co-chaired by the two countries' foreign ministers and presidents of employers' associations, and includes 10 priority sectors of activity, with a co-chairmanship on each side.

 The body will contribute to fostering economic partnership between Morocco and Senegal and setting up a Senegalese-Moroccan Forum which will become a yearly event for the two countries' economic actors.

 In a speech before HM the King and the Senegalese president, chairman of the national council for Senegalese employers (CNP) Baidy Agne highlighted the importance of the Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group which will help consolidate the ties of cooperation and win-win partnership.

 This group is in line with the vision by the two head of states to bolster bilateral partnership and turn it into a model of south-south cooperation, he said, calling on the two countries' private sectors to get involved to reinforce the exemplary partnership between Morocco and Senegal.

 For her part, president of the Moroccan employers' association (CGEM) Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun noted that through its 11 thematic and sectoral committees, co-chaired by economic operators from the two sides, the economic impetus group seeks to create opportunities in areas as food-processing, fisheries, finance, industry, real estate, logistics, digital economy and training.

 The goal is to multiply investments, encourage the emergence of regional economic actors to create jobs and enhance regional financial economic integration, she said, urging to overcome the tight framework of trade to create solid value chains sustained by productive investment.

HM King Mohammed VI and Senegalese president Macky Sall chaired afterwards the signing ceremony of 15 agreements of public-private and private-private economic partnership.

 The 11 co-chairmen of the Group's committees were presented to HM the King and president Macky Sall.

 They are the Moroccan and Senegalese co-chairmen of the committees of bank-finance-insurance, agri-business-fisheries, real estate-infrastructure, tourism, energy-renewable energy, transportation-logistics, industry-distribution, digital economy, social and solidarity-based economy-handicraft, human capital-training and entrepreneurship.

 After the ceremony, HM the King and the Senegalese head of state posed for a souvenir photo with the members of the Moroccan-Senegalese economic impetus group.

 The ceremony was attended notably by HH Prince Moulay Ismail, HM the King's advisors Fouad Ali El Himma and Yasser Zenagui, the members of the delegation accompanying HM the King during this visit and several Moroccan and Senegalese economic operators.

MAP 25 May 2015