EU Delegation Official: Morocco's coastlines spearhead blue economy

In Morocco’s coastal zones, the blue economy represents nearly 60% of GDP and 50% of jobs, making it a decisive lever for the Kingdom’s economic development, said Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Morocco, Daniele Dotto, hailing the country’s strong commitment both nationwide and globally.

Dotto spoke at a conference on the challenges and opportunities of maritime clusters and their role in the emergence of the blue economy. The event aimed to initiate a dialogue on approaches to the country’s regional specificities, seek recommendations to integrate these clusters into the conception and implementation of the National Strategy of the Blue Economy (SNEB) and improve access to blue financing.

Regarding the blue economy, Dotto underlined that Morocco supports the creation of a new technical group dedicated to this theme as part of the WestMed initiative. The group will be coordinated by Tunisia and will bring together national experts and relevant stakeholders to exchange best practices, develop concrete projects, and fill the gap in blue economy skills in the region.

The WestMed initiative was launched in 2015 by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) with the support of the European Commission, following the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Blue Economy. It aims to contribute to building a safe maritime space, create a smarter blue economy, and improve maritime governance in the West Mediterranean.

The EU official stressed that the event provided an opportunity to underscore the EU-Morocco Green Partnership signed in 2022, specifically its aspect devoted to the green and blue economy, which constitutes the strategic framework for bilateral cooperation.

For her part, the President of the Guelmim-Oued Noun region council and the Association des Régions du Maroc (ARM), Mbarka Bouaida, stated that plenty of maritime cluster opportunities are being offered to Morocco making it possible to foster its role as an African-European hub, capture more investment, and play a key role in logistics security.

Bouaida recalled that Morocco has notable assets in the blue economy realm, boasting coasts spanning 3,500 kilometers and a maritime space of 1.2 million km², as well as major potential in logistics, the port industry, fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy, littoral tourism, and innovation.