The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, co-launched with Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Morocco and the EU’s first Green Partnership, on October 18th.
This partnership has been in the works since June 28th, 2021, as discussed in a videoconference between Bourita and Timmermans.
The Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister described this partnership as a crossroads between the importance Morocco grants the EU, on one hand, and the environment, on the other hand. He also pointed out the compatibility of this partnership with the national sectorial strategies that cover energy transition, lowering the carbon intensity of the Moroccan economy, adaptation, and resilience to climate change, and the blue economy.
The Minister stated that this partnership will be a pioneer, adaptive, and productive tool and a chance to “build back better” amid successive crises the world has been subjected to. He also insisted that the focus should be on the “partner before the partnership.”
In terms of financing, the Minister called for suitable political and financial support that “transcends pure financial logic.” He recalled that the support program for the energy transition in Morocco has received 50 million euros at this stage. In addition to the support program for the ecological development in the agriculture and forestry sector in Morocco, which is set to be signed in December 2022 with a budget of 115 million euros.
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, stated that it is no coincidence that the first green partnership signed by the EU with another country is with Morocco. The Vice-President went on to hail Morocco’s leadership in the continent in this matter.
Mr. Timmermans declares that the vision is not that of remoteness, but he sees Morocco’s integration into the European economic sphere.
Speaking of investments in renewable energies, the European official describes Morocco’s potential as “limitless”, enumerating the various clean energy sources the Kingdom exploits such as wind, solar, and water.
The ceremony witnessed the presence of Moroccan Ministers, Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade, Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Economy and Finance, and a European delegation.