Green Economy: Morocco for Solid Partnerships with Canada

Montreal – Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, expressed the willingness of Morocco to implement strong partnerships with Canada in the areas of scientific innovation and capacity building with the private sector and universities, at a time when the Kingdom is working to stand out as a competitive, green and sustainable economy.

Speaking Thursday by video conference at the opening of a “day of academic and scientific dialogue” organized by the Embassy of the Kingdom in Canada and Concordia University, Benali highlighted the efforts made by Morocco to strengthen the attractiveness of the energy sector and accelerate the establishment of a national ecosystem built around green energy technologies, noting in this regard the importance given to the creation and development of innovative projects involving industry, universities and academia.

Recalling that Morocco and Canada have excellent cooperation relations especially in the field of energy and sustainable development, Benali called for the implementation of real and strong partnerships between the two countries, with the private sector and universities, both in terms of innovation but also transfer of know-how, capacity building and integration of industry in services.

Morocco, which wants to increase its share of renewable energy to exceed the target of 53% by 2030, has launched a low-carbon strategy to achieve an integrated and common vision in the field of energy transition and sustainable development, stressed the Minister.

She noted that the 50 operational projects implemented to date, in the field of renewable energy and have a capacity of 4GWatts and 60 other projects under development or implementation, remain insufficient.

Also, the Kingdom intends, she said, to capitalize on its recent achievements to stand out in the emerging markets of the green economy and the clean economy, an ambition that involves a process of decarbonization of the entire economy, including the industrial sector as well as a contribution of the sectors of logistics and heavy industries.

Benali stressed in this regard the firm determination of the Kingdom, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to stand out internationally as a competitive, carbon neutral, environmentally responsible and sustainable partner country.

Morocco has a real political will to accelerate the pace of transformation of its economy through flagship measures that cover multiple sectors ranging from transport to construction, through industry, public lighting and agriculture, she said, adding that once implemented, these measures will save in the short term, more than 20% of energy consumption in the Kingdom, and even more by 2030 and also create 80,000 new jobs.

The Minister also explained that her department is committed to creating and developing innovative projects involving industry, universities and academia, the objective being to establish research platforms that will serve innovation and researchers.

Among the infrastructures already created in Morocco are the Green Energy Park, the Green and Intelligent Buildings Park, the Green Hydrogen Platform, the Agricultural Nexus of Biomass and Energy.

Speaking on this occasion, the ambassador of HM the King in Canada, Souriya Otmani, stressed, for its part, that the day of dialogue initiated jointly with Concordia University, reflects “excellence, dynamism and proactivity” that characterize the Moroccan-Canadian cooperation, and this in the context of the celebration this year, of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.