Ndiaye, who spoke at session focused on Dakhla as an African hub, initiated by the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), noted that these projects will allow the opening of Morocco to sub-Saharan Africa and contribute especially to the "development of African and intra-African trade, and regional trade."

Highlighting the strong potential and dynamism of this region in the south of the Kingdom, the former minister said that Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, particularly by its geographical position, has experienced a remarkable economic growth in industrial and financial.

He also stressed that this day-meeting is an opportunity to further understand the significant potential of the region, its dynamism and its promising future with the various projects that are underway and will make the region a real industrial hub, logistics and tourism.

Presenting some figures on the economic potential of the region, the head of division of information at the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts (DEPF) under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ibrahim El Hasnaoui said that the region of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab has achieved a vigorous growth of 11.9% during the period 2014-2019 under the impetus of the development plan for the southern regions, launched in 2014, which is considered as the best regional performance.

In terms of GDP per capita, the region ranks first among the regions with 86,166 dirhams/inhabitant against 32,394 DH/inhabitant at the national level in 2019, he mentioned, adding that the region's economy is distinguished by the importance of primary value added focused on fishing, as well as the tertiary sector (46%).

For her part, Sanae El Amrani of the Directorate of Ports and Public Maritime Domain of the Ministry of Equipment and Water focused on the project of Dakhla Atlantic, underlying that "the creation of this new port on the Atlantic coast meets geostrategic objectives and regional development.”

This major project will support the economic, social and industrial development of the region in all productive sectors in order to provide the region with a modern and scalable logistics, to match its development ambitions, to develop the resource of small pelagics by setting up port infrastructure and industrial spaces on the quayside offering the best conditions of competitiveness to the entire fishing industry, she pointed out.

The vocation of IRES is to contribute to making decisions on strategic issues. Its mission is to carry out strategic studies and analyses on matters submitted by His Majesty the King and perform a strategic watch function, both at the national and international level, in various areas considered as strategic for the country.

IRES analyses domestic structural issues, examines Morocco's external relations in their multiple dimensions and attaches great attention to global issues.