Tangier: The strategic significance of the Royal Atlantic Initiative and its impact on regional connectivity, trade, logistics, and African integration took center stage during a ministerial panel held Thursday in Tangier as part of the first National Maritime Conference.
According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, the panel, held under the theme “The Royal Initiative for the Atlantic and the Sahel: The Role of Maritime Affairs,” explored the role of the maritime sector in logistical sovereignty, economic competitiveness, and supply chain resilience, while identifying the sectoral levers needed to support this momentum.
In this context, Minister of Transport and Logistics Abdessamad Kayouh stressed that the Royal Initiative for the Atlantic and the Sahel responds to the need to open up African countries without maritime access, where import, production, and export costs remain “practically double.” He explained that Morocco is currently building an integrated maritime ecosystem based on linking national ports to road and rail networks, logistics platforms, and dry ports, highlighting the new opportunities that the future Dakhla Atlantique port will offer for Moroccan agricultural, fisheries, and industrial exports.
For his part, Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka stated that the Royal Atlantic Initiative aims to strengthen Morocco’s anchoring along the Atlantic coast through enhanced port infrastructure, logistics, and regional connectivity. The Royal Initiative, he added, seeks to turn the Atlantic into “a shared development space” open to Africa, Europe, and the rest of the world, while enabling Sahel countries to access the Atlantic Ocean.
In this regard, he underscored the importance of developing “secure” maritime and land corridors, noting that this approach would allow Sahel countries to integrate more effectively into global value chains. In turn, Secretary of State to the Minister of Industry and Trade in charge of Foreign Trade, Omar Hejira, noted that maritime transport has become a central driver of Morocco’s foreign trade, pointing out that more than 535,000 trucks transit each year through the Tanger Med port toward Europe.
“Foreign trade cannot grow without this logistics infrastructure,” he stressed, recalling that Moroccan infrastructure is also being made available to African partner countries as part of a “win-win” cooperation approach. Africa’s Atlantic seaboard should become not only a hub for trade but also “a platform for production, industrialization, and economic integration,” Hejira added.
Held under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and organized by the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, the National Maritime Conference marks a major step in the collective reflection on the future of Morocco’s maritime sector and reflects the Kingdom’s ambition to strengthen its position as a leading maritime, port, and logistics hub at the regional, continental, and international levels. The two-day conference (May 21-22) features a series of strategic panels dedicated to the major challenges facing the national and international maritime sector. It will notably address strategies for developing a competitive maritime fleet and reforming governance and the sector’s regulatory framework, as well as the opportunities offered by maritime logistics.