Morocco and the UAE to Improve Trade and Economic Cooperation

Morocco and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are dedicated to deepening their trade and economic relationship. On June 6 in Casablanca, Dubai Chambers and the Casablanca-Settat Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Services (CCISCS) co-hosted a business forum showcasing this will.

Morocco and the United Arab Emirates have maintained outstanding bilateral cooperation since 1972, when they established diplomatic relations. Their alliances have grown in recent years across a range of economic sectors, including energy, logistics, finance, investing, data storage, agriculture, real estate, and travel.

Dubai Chambers CEO Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah reports that commerce between Morocco and Dubai hit $886 million in 2023, excluding hydrocarbons. 850 Moroccan enterprises were registered as active members of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce by the end of the first quarter of 2024; 99 new member companies joined in the first three months of 2024 alone. Drawing on an IMF estimate showing Morocco as Africa’s sixth-largest economy by 2024, Lootah emphasized Morocco’s strategic relevance to Dubai.

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According to Lootah, the trade mission seeks to promote improved cooperation and understanding between the Moroccan and Dubai business populations. The President of CCISCS, Hassane Berkani, pointed out that Moroccan companies, especially in the agri-food industry, use Dubai as a strategic base to enter Asian markets.

With investments of $30 billion, the UAE is the top investor in Morocco; this amount is likely to quadruple in the next few years. By the end of 2023, Moroccan exports to the UAE totaled 2 billion and 109 million dirhams, while imports from the UAE were 13 billion and 187 million dirhams, according to the Office du Change.

Berkani thinks that by means of strategic alliances in industry, renewable energies, new technologies, transportation, and logistics, seizing business prospects and leveraging economic complementarities could improve trade performance even more. These initiatives have a strong basis thanks to Morocco’s current free trade agreement, which dates back to 2003.