Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Green and Digital Economy Moulay Hafid Elalamy has begun a working visit to the United States, with the aim of promoting the Moroccan aeronautics industry and seeking investments for this key sector.
On his visit, the Moroccan minister will meet with Stanley A. Deal, the executive vice president of The Boeing Company, and executive vice president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), and a number of other significant figures in the North American aeronautics sector.
According to local Moroccan media, Elalamy’s visit will consist of networking and connecting the major players of the Moroccan aeronautics industry with various US-based aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing.
Elalamy said in a statement ahead of his trip that “… we will promote the assets of the national industrial platform and, more particularly, the Boeing ecosystem to suppliers of the American aircraft manufacturer with a view to strengthening the local supply chain through the implementation of new investment projects,”
Accompanied by representatives of the Moroccan Aeronautical and Spaces Industries Group (GIMAS) and the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investments and Exports (AMDIE), the minister will hold a series of B2B meetings with high-level officials representing Boeing suppliers in the two American aeronautical centres of Seattle and Wichita, the statement added.
The Regional Director of Boeing in Morocco Douglas Kelly had previously said that the North African country has become a “valuable” partner to the US-based aerospace manufacturer.
The “facilities and business opportunities” in Morocco make “our partnership very valuable,” he said at the time, noting Morocco’s skilled workforce is a “big advantage.”
The biggest international manufacturers have invested in Morocco-based factories. In addition to Boeing, there are Airbus, Bombardier, Ratier, Vikas, Safran, Dassault, Airbus, and other manufacturers.
The Moroccan industrial sector, particularly the automotive and aeronautic industries, greatly suffered from the advent of COVID-19, which initiated significant industrial sector closure.
Most affected sectors were “the tourism sector and its ancillary activities, mechanical, metallurgical, and electrical industries (IMME), textile and clothing industries, trade, and transport,” read an HCP report pertaining to the matter.
In September 2016, Morocco signed an agreement that Boeing will seek to attract its suppliers to boost the kingdom’s aeronautics industry.
The project, dubbed “Boeing ecosystem,” aimed at the time to bring around 120 suppliers of the company to help raise Morocco’s aeronautics exports by $1 billion and create 8,700 jobs.
According to Moroccan government estimates, the agreement enabled Rabat to increase its exports in the aeronautics sector by $1 billion annually.
Thanks to the vision and support of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan aeronautics industry has significantly developed to rank 15th in terms of investments.
Rabat says that the industry has witnessed significant growth in recent years, doubling its size by about 6 times within a decade.
Today, Morocco has great potential for aeronautics, and the industry currently includes 140 companies, and the number is expected to rise to 220 in the coming years.