The United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Morocco have successfully completed negotiations aimed at reaching a comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the two brotherly countries.
The final touches have been made to the terms of this historic agreement, which ushers in a new era of common economic growth, within the framework of the process of fraternal relations between the two countries.
Minister of State for Foreign Trade Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi and Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade Riad Mazour signed a joint statement to announce the successful conclusion of the negotiations and the final terms of the agreement.
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi welcomed the successful conclusion of the negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Morocco and the achievement of its final terms, with a view to its subsequent signing.
He said: “The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and Morocco is an important addition to the program of global economic agreements that the country continues to implement, with the aim of expanding the network of its trade and investment partners around the world, while concluding promising partnerships with markets of strategic importance at the regional and international level on the map of international trade. The agreement aims to achieve mutual interests, especially in sectors such as tourism, energy, manufacturing and agriculture, and to ensure long-term prosperity for the two brotherly peoples.
In turn, Riad Mazur indicated that the agreement is part of the implementation of the content of the declaration signed by the leaders of the two countries on December 4, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, which aims to establish an innovative, renewed and established partnership between the two countries. two brotherly countries.
He added: “The scope of the agreement goes beyond the field of trade liberalization, to include several areas related to investment and economic cooperation, making it a model framework to lay a solid foundation for raising the level of cooperation in the economic and investment field.”
The agreement, after being formally signed later and subsequently ratified and entered into force, aims to boost the free movement of goods and services between the two brotherly countries by removing unnecessary barriers to trade, creating flexible rules of origin for goods, improving market access for services and strengthening customs coordination.
The agreement also creates new platforms to stimulate the flow of mutual investments and establish partnerships between the private sector and business communities of both parties, with a focus on priority sectors, such as renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure, mining, food security, transport, logistics, information and communications technology, and others.
Non-oil foreign trade between the UAE and Morocco is experiencing a remarkable boom, reaching $1.3 billion in 2023, an increase of 30% compared to 2022 and a growth of more than 83% compared to its levels before the global pandemic, more precisely in 2019.
The United Arab Emirates is also the largest Arab investor in Morocco, with total investments amounting to $15 billion in various strategic projects.
The Kingdom of Morocco is the sixth largest economy on the African continent. In 2023, the gross domestic product reached $152.4 billion. It is expected to grow by 3.5% by the end of this year, and the prospects for growth and development of the Moroccan economy are promising, especially the services sector, which is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product with 54%, and the industrial sector, which contributes 23%.
It is worth noting that the comprehensive economic partnership agreements program aims to expand the country’s network of trade and investment partners, in order to achieve its strategic goal of increasing the UAE’s foreign trade in non-oil products to four trillion dirhams by 2031.
The positive impact of the agreements that came into force under the program has been demonstrated on the UAE’s non-oil foreign trade, which continues to reach unprecedented levels and record growth rates during 2022, 2023 and the first half of this year. year.
Thani Al-Zayoudi:
• The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Morocco is an important addition to the program of global economic agreements that the country continues to implement, with the aim of expanding the network of its trade and investment partners around the world.