Russia and Morocco want to strengthen their agricultural trade – AgriMaroc.ma

Morocco and Russia are keen to strengthen agricultural trade between them.

Mr. Mohammed Sadiki, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests and Mr. Sergei LEVINE, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation chaired, on Thursday October 15, 2020 by videoconference, the official opening of the Business Forum of Russian Exporters of agricultural products in the Kingdom of Morocco.

Organized online, this forum was attended by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco in Russia, the trade representative of the Russian Federation in Morocco, representatives of the ministerial departments of theagriculture from Russia and Morocco, representatives of the health authorities for food products and standardization and certification, as well as several public and private actors and professionals in agriculture and agri-food from both countries.

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The organization of this Business Forum responds to a common desire, clearly displayed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI May God assist him, and His Excellency President Vladimir Poutine, to establish a new model of economic partnership with a strong involvement of the private sector, reinforced by the declaration of a deep strategic partnership between Russia and Morocco.

Mr. Sadiki recalled in his opening remarks that this partnership has been considerably strengthened by the signing of numerous agreements and conventions in the sanitary and phytosanitary fields since 2012 and crystallized by the entry into force of the “green corridor” which marked the start of a new era of trade promotion between Morocco and Russia.

He also underlined the prominent place given by the Green Morocco Plan to Morocco’s agricultural trade policy and the various measures undertaken to promote foreign trade which contributed to the doubling of the value of agricultural exports between 2008 and 2018, from 15 , 2 billion dirhams in 2008 to 36.3 billion dirhams in 2018. The new strategy “Generation Green 2020-2030”Aims to improve product distribution processes and double exports by 2030.

Mr. Sadiki and Levine expressed the common will of the two departments of agriculture, Moroccan and Russian, to work towards greater facilitation and promotion of trade in agricultural products, with the ambition that the green corridor be an accelerator exchanges between the two countries.

The Forum took place in a plenary session, marked by interventions by official representatives of the two countries on the state of bilateral trade in agricultural products, investment opportunities and development prospects. Professionals from the two countries then presented respectively the market and export potential for the different agricultural sectors and sectors of common interest. These are the sectors; cereals, oils and fats, dairy, confectionery, red meats, poultry farming and milling.

Sectoral and B2B meetings were organized in the second session of the forum between professionals from different sectors to discuss topics of common interest and explore the various investment and business opportunities.

The Forum made it possible to initiate reflection on the promotion of trade between the two countries and to come out with recommendations.

Regarding economic relations between Morocco and Russia, the volume of agricultural trade reached 2.9 billion DH during the period 2015-2019, representing 19% on average of global trade between the two countries. Morocco is also positioned as Russia’s leading trading partner in Africa.

Agricultural exports to Russia amounted to an average of 1.8 billion DH during the period 2015-2019, i.e. an average share of 82% of Morocco’s overall exports to Russia.