The signing of the arrangements which took place between Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Benchaaboun and the German ambassador to Morocco, Goetz Schmidt-Bremme intends to support renewable and electric energy, water supply, and desalination of seawater.
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Partnership agreement
The partnership will include a high-ranking steering committee at state secretary level. The content of the partnership will be handled in thematic work groups for ‘Development cooperation and low emission strategies promoted by energy projects’ and ‘Cooperation on energy policy/supporting investment and research projects’.
A permanent secretariat will be created in the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mining, Water and the Environment in Rabat to support the partnership on organization and content. Currently, the key topics are energy strategies (with a focus on renewable energies), private sector projects closely related to the market, research partnerships, low emission strategies and development cooperation.
According to Mohamed Benchaaboun, Moroccan reforms will benefit from Germany’s support program, particularly in business climate and investment promotion, whether for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or start-ups.
African hub of sustainable development
Following its efforts to become an African hub of sustainable development, particularly in renewable energy, Morocco has been classified among developing countries that notably improved their renewable energies sector and policies since 2010.
Morocco produces 28,000 gigawatt hours of electricity and imports the rest of its energy needs from Spain and is seeking boost its production capacity by 6,500 megawatts by 2020, with solar and wind energies each representing 2,000MW, according to a US International Trade Administration 2017 report.