Morocco-Senegal ties expand

The meeting in late January highlighted the growing regional influence of the North African kingdom, which has been aggressively pursuing investments in Senegal as well as other sub-Saharan economies. It also paved the way for a flurry of investment interest on the part of Moroccan businessmen in its aftermath.

Organized by the Moroccan business association CGEM (Confédération Générale des Entreprises du Maroc) and the Senegalese association CNP (Conseil National du Patronat), the two-day meeting analyzed means of increasing the level of trade driven by the private sector in fields as diverse as financial services and infrastructure development. The WAEMU zone represents an attractive market of close to 74 million potential consumers in Benin, Burkina-Faso, Guinee- Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, all united by a single currency, the franc CFA.

As a new outlet for business networking, the Dakar forum is set to become a permanent feature in Morocco's relations with the region, intensifying the growing rate of south-south trade.

"I am convinced that this movement must be amplified in the most diverse fields," Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou told the Dakar forum, "including banking and insurance, transport, tourism, manufacturing, fishing, agriculture, urbanism and infrastructure."

Since the accession to the throne of King Mohammed VI, trade between Morocco and Senegal has accelerated to over $55 million in 2006, making Senegal the largest trading partner of Morocco within the WAEMU region.

Trade between the two countries is, however, slanted in favor of Morocco, with Senegal revealing a 30% deficit in 2006. Moroccan companies have indeed taken a strategic position in Senegal in recent years. The Moroccan public electricity agency, the Office National de l'Electricité, has taken a stake in the Senegalese electricity company SENELEC, while Royal Air Maroc is a substantial shareholder in Air Senegal.

Meanwhile Attijariwafa bank, a poster child for Moroccan investments in West Africa, has set up a branch in Dakar, as well as taking a 67% controlling stake in the Senegalo- Tunisian Bank which already has 6% market share in Senegal.

Its aim is to become one of the "model banks of West Africa" according to its President, Boubker Jaï. Through its wave of acquisitions, the bank is set to become the third-largest network in Senegal this year, once it integrates the 19 branches of the network.

Similarly, BMCE bank has been present in Senegal since 2004. "BMCE's strategy is to use our subsidiary in Senegal as a platform for our regional expansion," Kamal Bouayad, director delegate of BMCE, said. "In fact, the opening of one of our satellites in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and the upcoming opening of one in Libreville in Gabon, is a perfect example of this."

Alongside this, the construction consortium formed by the two Moroccan companies Sintram and Houar is in the process of building a 225 kilometer road between the Senegalese towns of Linguère and Matam. The Moroccan-Emirati Development Company also has ambitions of entering Senegal in its search of new markets further south.

Morocco's interest in Senegalese opportunities are so diverse that West Africa Pharma, a subsidiary of the Moroccan pharmaceutical company Sothema, is finalizing its new factory in Dakar, which should be operational by March this year. The international utilities group Veolia is also involved in an environmental clean-up project in the outskirts of Dakar.

Wishing to position Dakar as the point of entry for Moroccan goods flowing into West Africa, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has sought to attract Moroccan investments for the construction of a container terminal in the port of Dakar. Already chronically lacking space, the existing Dakar port has witnessed a doubling of traffic between 1995 and 2005, growing from 5 million tons a year to 10 million.

Meanwhile, members of the CGEM also signalled their interest in managing the 40 kilometer highway being constructed between the Senegalese towns of Dakar and Diamniadio, which is being partly funded by the African Development Bank. Given that such large infrastructure projects have not brought a return on investment for at least 15 years, Jettou emphasized that Morocco was positioning itself as a long-term partner for Senegal and the broader region.

Transport was also high on the agenda, as the project of a road from Rabat to Dakar via Nouakchott is being studied. At the level of maritime transport, the two lines Tanger-

Dakar and Tanger-Nouakchott-Dakar have been deemed so successful that the idea of an extension to the port of Cotonou in Benin was floated at the forum. Not waiting for this, Moroccan transport companies such as CET and COMANAV have already launched operations in Senegal, with the former creating a subsidiary CET Dakar.