Regional champions

The minister delegate in charge of investment was, a few days ago, on a roadshow in Spain to present the “Morocco” industrial platform to Spanish partners. Naturally, the armed wing of investment promotion, in this case AMDIE, was on the trip. This type of operation has become a ritual, almost a routine. But the novelty this time is that the Minister has also brought in his suitcases the central players in investment in the regions, namely the CRIs represented by their bosses. Because ultimately it is the latter who will be the direct interlocutors in the field of potential foreign, Spanish or other investors. The CRIs therefore had the objective of each “selling” their region, its strengths, its reception facilities, its potential and the advantages it could offer to operators. All of this, of course, in the light of the content of the new Investment Charter. Admittedly, when a foreign operator decides to establish itself in a region, it does so first with regard to criteria such as connectivity, accessibility, the availability of suitable land or the proximity of essential infrastructure such as ports, airports, railways, highways and logistics platforms. But that’s not all and that’s where the CRIs and especially the Regions will now have to focus their efforts. A foreign investor is more likely to opt for a region where, in addition to all this, he can find an already developed network of companies on which he can rely for his sourcing. However, this type of ecosystem can only develop if in each region there are industrial locomotives in one or more sectors. In their quest for job-creating and value-creating investment, regional champions can be excellent selling points for territory managers. Saad Benmansour