To strengthen cooperation between Moroccan and American financial operators, a large Moroccan economic delegation met leaders from the New York Stock Exchange on Monday at New York’s iconic Wall Street.
The visit is part of Morocco and the United States’ strategic partnership in a variety of sectors, including capital market development.
The Moroccan delegation included, Morocco’s Ambassador to the USA Youssef Amrani; Director General of the Casablanca Stock Exchange Tarik Senhaji; Director of Financial Operations and Markets at the AMMC Nasser Seddiqi; Director General of the Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) Kamal Mokdad; CEO of CFG Bank Younes Benjelloun; and CEO of MAROCLEAR Mounir Razki.
Others involved include Director of Development at the Casablanca Stock Exchange Zineb Guennouni, Director of Market Operations at the same exchange Ahmed Arharbi, as well as Lahcen Danoun from the Ministry of Economy, and Finance, and Siham Talbioui from Bank Al Maghrib.
Morocco’s Ambassador to the United States underscored the strong ties between the two nations. “This long-standing friendship, along with our shared strategic interests, have made our two countries critical partners on many issues and challenges ranging from security threats, climate change, and energy to promoting common values of peace, stability, and economic liberalism.”
To improve these bilateral connections, he said, the two countries negotiated a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2004 and implemented it in 2006, making Morocco the first African and second Arab country to have an FTA with the United States.
The United States is Morocco’s third-largest commercial trading partner, while Morocco is the fourth-largest trading partner in Africa.
Ambassador Amrani said that last year, US investments accounted for more than 30% of total “Foreign Direct Investments” (FDI) in Morocco, making the US the leading investor in Morocco. Indeed, bilateral trade had increased dramatically to $5 billion as of 2023, up from $925 million in 2005, one year before the FTA was implemented.
By 2023, U.S. exports to Morocco had surged by 700%, up from $480 million in 2005 to $3.4 billion in 2023. Similarly, Morocco’s exports to the United States tripled in value, reaching $1.6 billion in 2023, up from $445 million in 2005, he said.
Morocco is the second largest investor in Africa and the first in West Africa, the latter which accounts for 85% of the country’s total Foreign Direct Investment. He added that with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and more than 50 similar agreements, Morocco is establishing itself as a free trade hub, providing access to a 2.5 billion-person strong consumer market.
“The strategic initiative aims to alleviate the economic bottlenecks of the region by increasing connectivity — making our roads, ports and rail infrastructure available to the Sahel countries to strengthen their participation in international trade including with the United States,” Amrani explained.
Morocco has pursued several far-reaching political and economic reforms over the last two decades under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, and all these efforts together have resulted in Morocco becoming not only a regional economic powerhouse, but also an integrated financial African hub with a modern and highly diverse economy.
Morocco has recently entered a new phase of development, with an emphasis on reforms to promote financial inclusion, digital entrepreneurship, and access to digital infrastructure and services for individuals and businesses to support job creation, particularly among women and young people.
“In this spirit,” the Ambassador said, “the launch of the Moroccan derivatives market at the Casablanca Stock exchange will complement a long series of structural reforms of the Moroccan Capital Markets.”
The director of the Casablanca Stock Exchange Tarik Senhaji told news agency MAP that the visit is intended to bring the market and American investors closer to the opportunities offered by the Casablanca financial center and the Moroccan market, including the possibility of skills exchange.
He added that the delegation visit is significant since it involves collaboration with important financial entities in New York, such as the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq, and the International Continental Exchange.
This is “an opportunity for us and the agencies accompanying us,” primarily regulators and banks, to form partnerships with American counterparts, he said. Stock exchanges “play an important role” not only as sources of financing but also as a promotional tool for countries.