Speaking to business leaders and economic operators at the close of the “Morocco-France Entrepreneurial Meeting”, Macron noted that the Kingdom is “the leading client” of the French Development Agency (AFD) in terms of investments, stressing that AFD will continue to finance projects in the Kingdom, including those carried out by French companies in the Sahara.

In this respect, he emphasized that France intends to develop an equitable, win-win economic partnership with Morocco, given the many synergies between the two countries' economies.

The French President highlighted the existing industrial partnership in several fields, calling for greater integration of value chains in a context of “re-regionalization of tariffs”.

Macron also expressed regret that European and French financial groups were forced to leave Africa “because of the rules and regulatory standards that Europeans have taken for themselves.”

“I think this is a terrible strategic error. (...) we Europeans have to reconsider the rules and restrictions we have imposed on our institutions”, said the French Head of State at this meeting dedicated to strategic sectors of the future.

Co-organized by the the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) and the the Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF), via the Club des Chefs d'Entreprises France-Maroc, this meeting takes particular importance in the context of the French President Emmanuel Macron's State visit to Morocco at the invitation of HM King Mohammed VI.