Morocco, EU Launch Twinning Project to Strengthen Aquaculture

Rabat – A twinning project between Morocco and the European Union (EU) was launched, Wednesday in Rabat, to strengthen the aquaculture sector in the Kingdom.

Registered under the multisectoral cooperation program “Making a success of advanced status” (RSA II) funded by the EU, this institutional twinning project aims to back the efforts of the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ANDA) in supporting the installation of aquaculture projects and provide operators in this sector with practical tools for good management, while falling within a biosafety approach.

Speaking on this occasion, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohamed Sadiki, noted that this project is part of a national context marked by the initiation of several productive investment projects in marine aquaculture and a strong mobilization of actors and stakeholders for the development of a sustainable and competitive aquaculture sector.

For a duration of 8 months, he said, this twinning is funded by the EU to the tune of 250,000 euros and will be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Sea in France and managed with the support of the Directorate of Treasury and External Finance of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Morocco.

For her part, the EU Ambassador to Morocco, Patricia Llombart Cussac, highlighted the importance of this partnership that will generate more than 4,000 direct jobs in addition to indirect jobs in the aquaculture sector, which is, according to her, “an innovative sector” that can greatly contribute to the growth of the country, in addition to having a direct impact on fishermen.

In the same vein, the French Ambassador to Morocco, Hélène Le Gal, noted that this twinning project with France will be a great support in the development of good practices in the aquaculture sector and will accompany the action plan launched by the ANDA, aimed at providing private actors in the sector with relevant and essential tools for their positioning on the scale of responsible aquaculture producers.

Within this framework, a team of French experts will be mobilized to strengthen the capacities of institutional and private actors in the areas of biosafety, good aquaculture practices and the labelling of national aquaculture products.