Installation of the PSA Peugeot Citroen group in Morocco

Rabat- Strong economic progress it has made over the past decade, Morocco has positioned itself as a gateway to Africa, a vocation that comes to shine with implementation of a new Peugeot-Citroen factory in the Kingdom.

The entrance to this great world leader on the Moroccan market comes to offer further confirmation of Morocco’s stature as a land of opportunity and as an attractive market.

The implementation of PSA Peugeot-Citroën in Morocco is in itself a first in Africa, the group have so far no production site on the African continent, with the exception of an assembly unit Nigeria.

This is a prominent recognition on the part of European economic operators, who are pinning their hopes on the Kingdom, whose economic base depends on many parameters, a political stability that has never wavered even height of the wave of instability that has swept the Middle East region and North Africa in the context of the Arab Spring.

His Majesty King Mohammed VI presided Friday at the Guest House in Rabat, the signing ceremony of an agreement between the Kingdom of Morocco and the French group PSA Peugeot Citroën on the implementation of an industrial complex of the group, on the edge of the integrated industrial platform “Atlantic Free Zone” in the Gharb Chrarda Bni Hssen region.

At the beginning of the ceremony, it was proceeded with the screening of a film about the institutional goals of the industrial acceleration plan for the auto sector. ? Introducing the big project before the Sovereign, the Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy, Moulay Hafid Elalamy said that the installation of a second in Morocco is a new automaker vote of confidence in respect of the Kingdom, noting that the automotive sector has risen to levels of growth sustained in recent years, becoming the first export sector in 2014.

This growth is due to the many structural advantages offered by the Kingdom, including its institutional stability, political and macro-economic openness to the outside by the various free trade agreements and structural reforms to improve the business climate.

These strengths also include the development of a particularly attractive value proposition based on the establishment of a quality childcare infrastructure (Integrated Industrial Platforms) at competitive costs and with excellent rail logistics connectivity, highway, port and airport, and an innovative and pragmatic training strategy with four training institutes for careers in the automotive industry, including two in Tangier, Kenitra and one another in Casablanca.

Recalling the choice made by several automotive OEMs and world-class suppliers to establish themselves in Morocco, the Minister stressed that the 2014-2020 Industrial Plan acceleration has reinforced this momentum and make Morocco a car platform visible and attractive to industry leaders.

Amid this stability, Morocco has been working over the past decade to strengthen its macroeconomic framework, introducing deep reforms that helped the country to release its energies and project into several African countries as an actor who has a valuable contribution to make to the development effort of a continent that many people consider as the future hub of global economic growth.

With companies operating in several African countries, air connectivity over most of the continent, a strategic geographical position at the junction of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Morocco is ideally positioned to host investment projecting throughout Africa.

The heavy, dense economic relations maintained by Morocco with the various European, African and Middle Eastern markets supervised by a multitude of free trade agreements and economic cooperation with many countries in these regions are further advantages that argue in favor of Morocco.

The implementation of PSA Peugeot Citroen in the Kingdom also comes to clearly another dimension of Morocco, that of the opening and guarantees of fair competition, respect has nothing to envy to the world economic powers.

Wearing his choice on Morocco, PSA Peugeot-Citroen was not upset by the presence on the Moroccan market of its eternal rival Renault-Nissan, located in the Kingdom since 2012 with the huge Melloussa plant near Tangiers

The world knew they could trust in Morocco, a country where economic activity is governed by laws guaranteeing equal opportunities and providing the conditions for growth beyond the borders.

The European manufacturer also knows that the Moroccan market offers huge opportunities for expansion.

The entrance of the new group should be seen as forming part of a going in the Moroccan economic policy to make Morocco a genuine entry on Africa.

This is not wishful thinking, but rather a reality that is taking shape on the ground in the sweetness and serenity.

Having set up an infrastructural framework leading to the Tanger-Med port, the strengthening of the motorway network, the deployment of the international national airline, Royal Air Morocco, and the establishment of a Casablanca financial hub to international standards, the Kingdom is now ready to fully assume the role that is his own, that of a platform of major global companies wishing to seize the opportunities of the African Eldorado.

The wise and far-sighted African policy implemented by Morocco under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, punctuated by Royal tours became almost annual and sanctioned by agreements establishing a win-win partnership pushes US, European partners and Arab pass by Morocco to reach this promising market that now represents Africa.

Enabler of progress for all and open land par excellence, the Kingdom is not perceived as a competitor in search of ephemeral interests, but rather as a link with all the ingredients for project success development and economic growth, a factor for peace and security in any kind of age of uncertainty.

This is a strategic choice that fits within the strategic vision of His Majesty the King for the strengthening of intra-African cooperation in a model to ensure the co-development and co-emergence of African countries on the basis of an innovative approach taken with regard to contains, contrary to conventional schemes.