The MoU was signed during a webinar which gathered Indian and Moroccan stakeholders with a view to highlighting the growth and investment opportunities in both countries India-Morocco Business Forum, jointly organized by both the institutions on Friday.
Speaking on this occasion, Morocco's Ambassador to India Mohamed Malki welcomed the level of political relations between Morocco and India and the positive developments in economic relations in recent years.
In this sense, he highlighted a number of joint ventures of solid and successful cooperation especially in the fertilizer production sector which is the backbone of bilateral trade, in addition to other products that started to account for a significant part of bilateral relations based on win-win partnerships.
"The memorandum of understanding between BMCE bank of Africa and EXIM bank of India will help create more trade and investment opportunities in both countries, which will surely have a positive impact on bilateral trade," the diplomat explained.
For his part, the Chargé d'affaires of the Indian Embassy in Rabat, GK Pant stressed that Morocco enjoys several assets including political stability, quality infrastructure and a highly skilled workforce which offers enormous investment potential for Indian businessmen.
It is time to "double our efforts" and increase trade between Morocco and India, he said, adding that the sectors of activity of both countries are as multiple and varied ranging from textiles and pharmaceuticals to the automotive industry and transport.
Exim Bank deputy managing director, Harsha Bangari, said that the banking institution has supported 60 Indian companies for setting up ventures in the MENA region and that it seeks to further promote investment in Morocco given the country's assets.
Bank of Africa's delegate general manager, Mohamed Agoumi, noted that the objective of the MoU is to strengthen bilateral cooperation, provide financial support to Moroccan and Indian companies and combine the efforts of both parties with the ultimate goal of promoting development in Africa and Asia.
Bilateral trade between India and Morocco increased from $973.2 million in 2009 to $2.1 billion in 2019, thanks to a significant increase in investments in the sectors of solar energy, automotive, fertilizers, food processing, textiles and pharmaceuticals.