Morocco seen as a key strategic objective, both as a market and a gateway to Africa
Frutas de Chile general manager Miguel Canala-Echeverría met with Morocco’s ambassador to Chile, Kenza El-Ghali and American director of Morocco’s Foreign Ministry, Nezha Attahar, recently to discuss new opportunities to advance bilateral trade between the two countries.
Chile sees Morocco as being of strategic importance, both as a market and a gateway to the rest of Africa, thanks to its political and economic stability, modern infrastructure and favourable geographical location – Tangier Med port connects with 186 ports in 77 countries.
“To date we do not send fresh fruit to Morocco, as there are phytosanitary issues that are being agreed upon between SAG and the respective Moroccan entity. But it’s clear that not being in Morocco reduces our possibilities within Africa, a continent where we want to be one of the first to supply with fresh fruit,” Canala-Echeverría.
“Morocco is the perfect gateway to Africa, especially considering that it has ports and the appropriate logistics for our refrigerated shipments, so that they are distributed to the rest of the continent. Morocco can be an important hub for Chilean fruit, as the port of the Netherlands has been in Europe.”
With 54 countries and 1.25bn inhabitants, Africa’s importance as a potential market for Chilean fruit is clear.
The meeting took place during the Economic and Trade Forum of Morocco, organised by the Moroccan Embassy to raise awareness of the investment and export opportunities offered by this market.
According to El-Ghali, Morocco has some 50 free trade agreements and trade agreements with different regions of the world, especially Europe and the US and is already Africa’s biggest importer of Chilean dried fruit. She said there are significant investment and trade opportunities currently offered by the southern provinces of Morocco, which provide direct access to the rest of the continent. These provinces have experience rapid economic and social growth in recent decades.
Morocco also has the longest coastline in Africa. A number of major infrastructure projects are underway in the country, including the construction of the Dakhla Atlantique port, located 40km to the north of Dakhla.
Currently, Chile and Morocco do not have a Free Trade Agreement. Despite this, the ambassador observed that: “There have been administrative problems, rather than problems of the countries’ will. We need to move forward in the negotiation to be able to reach an agreement that benefits both countries. One of the main advantages is that we do not compete, since we are in the opposite season. Therefore, we can supply the Chilean market and vice versa”.
Vivero Sunnyridge was one of companies attending the event. Its head of research and development, Jorge Nanjari, said: “We are already sending blueberries to Egypt. Morocco is growing a lot in berries. We have good genetic programmes, which we licensed in Chile, therefore, we can easily export plants from Chile to Morocco. We would like to promote blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries”.
Omar Betancur, founder of Beta Export and Import, commented: “We are just starting out and we are interested in this market as an entry point to Africa and Europe. We specialise in cherries, apples and pears, which we would like to export to that market. Although the protocols for fruits are not established, we believe that Morocco is constantly growing and will allow us to reach a market that is not so saturated with Chilean fruits”.
