Hajira Participates in the Turkish–Moroccan Business and Investment Forum in Istanbul

Hajira explained that this forum follows a series of fruitful meetings held recently between Moroccan and Turkish partners, with this year witnessing an intensive exchange of visits and discussions, reflecting a strong interest in enhancing economic and trade cooperation and addressing the growing trade deficit in Türkiye's favor, especially through exploring opportunities for joint investment.

Omar Hajira, the State Secretary in charge of Foreign Trade, stated that the Turkish–Moroccan Business and Investment Forum kicked off today, Friday, November 28, in Istanbul, Turkey, with the participation of Türkiye’s Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, Deputy Minister Mustafa Tuzcu, Morocco’s Ambassador to Türkiye Mohamed Ali El-Azraq, CGEM President Chakib Laalj, AMDIE Director-General Ali Seddiki, Director-General of Trade Abderrahmane Rahal, Maroc PME Director-General Anwar Al-Alawi Al-Ismaili, representative of the Moroccan Exporters’ Confederation Adel Al-Zaidi, as well as numerous business leaders from both Morocco and Türkiye, alongside senior officials and representatives of Turkish economic and investment institutions.
This important forum aims to establish a strategic platform to enhance direct communication between business communities and to create new and genuine prospects for joint cooperation.

During his opening speech, Hajira emphasized that this key event reflects “the spirit of cooperation and complementarity between the Kingdom of Morocco and the sister Republic of Türkiye,” and represents a strategic opportunity for economic actors from both countries to explore cooperation and investment possibilities and assess the means to implement them on the ground.

He highlighted the deep-rooted friendship and growing cooperation between Morocco and Türkiye in economic and cultural fields, noting that the wide participation and diversity of represented sectors demonstrate the strong will of both governments and the private sector to strengthen bilateral economic partnership.

Hajira explained that this forum follows a series of fruitful meetings held recently between Moroccan and Turkish partners, with this year witnessing an intensive exchange of visits and discussions, reflecting a strong interest in enhancing economic and trade cooperation and addressing the growing trade deficit in Türkiye’s favor, especially through exploring opportunities for joint investment.

He added that these meetings produced several practical proposals to boost trade exchange, restore balance in the trade relationship, and deepen economic cooperation based on a “win–win” principle.

The initiatives, he noted, focus on supporting joint industrial production projects and achieving a more balanced trade relationship that benefits the economies of both countries.

Hajira also shared figures regarding bilateral trade: trade volume has reached around 5 billion USD, yet the trade balance continues to tip heavily in Türkiye’s favor, with Moroccan exports covering only 30% of imports—“a very telling figure that requires real solutions from our Turkish partners,” he stressed.

As for investments, Türkiye’s direct investments in Morocco over the past decade did not exceed 300 million USD, placing Türkiye 17th among foreign investors in the Kingdom. These figures, according to Hajira, call for “a genuine and effective commitment from the Turkish private sector to strengthen bilateral partnership and seize Morocco’s promising investment opportunities.”

He also underlined that Morocco, under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, “has become an open construction site,” preparing for upcoming continental and global events such as AFCON 2025 and the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Morocco today offers major potential for production and export to global markets thanks to its economic diversity, strategic geographic position between Africa and Europe, Atlantic openness, and advanced infrastructure, he added.

The forum’s program, which includes significant governmental and economic participation, features sessions on investment opportunities and the business climate in both countries.

These will be followed by B2B meetings between Moroccan and Turkish business actors, as well as sectoral workshops organized by AMDIE in the fields of textiles, automotive, and mechanical industries, along with the presentation of success stories of Turkish investors in Morocco.

The event is expected to serve as a practical platform to support the growing momentum of Moroccan–Turkish economic partnership, enhance bilateral investment flows, diversify cooperation areas, and help restore balance in trade exchanges.