Casablanca – The strengthening of economic cooperation between the Moroccan and Zambian private sectors was the focus of talks in Casablanca on Thursday between Mehdi Tazi, vice-president General of the Moroccan Employers’ Association (CGEM), and Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kasongo Kakubo.
During the talks, which focused on ways of consolidating business relations between the two countries in a number of sectors including agriculture, finance, renewable energies, tourism, industry and infrastructure, Kakubo stressed the importance of the Morocco-Zambia Business Forum in developing cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors.
“We are committed to organizing a Morocco-Zambia business forum in the coming year,” he said, noting that the key areas of economic cooperation identified are value chains, mining and the energy sector.
“Politically, Morocco and Zambia are aligned,” he stressed, adding that it is time to move on to economic diplomacy, transactions and job creation, for the mutual benefit of both economies.
“Morocco’s electrification rate stands at 99%, while Zambia’s is less than 40%, which is one of the reasons for strengthening economic cooperation,” he noted.
For his part, Tazi expressed his will to create added value and jobs, based on the complementarities between the two economies, counting on the support and cooperation of Zambian businesses.
Tazi also reiterated CGEM’s commitment to making the Morocco-Zambia economic partnership even more effective, in particular through “the reactivation of the Morocco-Zambia Business Council as soon as possible”.