On Thursday 24th November the British Chamber of Commerce for Morocco, also known as Britcham Morocco, organised a webinar (an online seminar) entitled: “Following the Agreement establishing an alliance between Morocco and the United Kingdom: The Next Step”. Three executive members of the Gibraltar Morocco Business Association were invited to attend and were able to question how said agreement applied to Gibraltar.

A statement from GMBA follows below:

The topic of discussion of the webinar related to the post Brexit Association Agreement which was signed in 2019 and came into force on the 1st of January 2021. The aim of the Agreement is to govern commercial relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland by creating a favourable bilateral legal framework to protect both British and Moroccan companies wishing to trade with each other outside of the European Union’s current commercial treaty with the Kingdom of Morocco which stopped applying to the UK once it ceased to be a Member State of the European Union.

Members of the panel of discussion included the British Ambassador to Morocco, His Excellency Mr Simon Martin, the Consul General of the British consulate in Morocco Mr Tom Hill, Mr Stephen Orr the President of Britcham Morocco as well as Mr Simon Moorish the general manager of the British start-up Xlinks which works on the very ambitious project of providing clean energy produced by the Moroccan desert sun and wind and exported to the United Kingdom through a 4000 kilometre electrical cable making it the largest such cable ever built.

His Excellency started by mentioning the 800 years of diplomatic relations between the two kingdoms, the first Anglo-Moroccan Treaty of 1721 and his joy to see this special relationship reinforced 300 years later. H.E expressed his satisfaction that the Moroccan government realised that Brexit provided an opportunity to reinforce its relationship with the UK by publicly announcing that it aspires to having the UK as one of its top 5 largest trading partners when it is to date its 11th trading partner.

Since the Association Agreement between the two kingdoms came into force in January 2021 the commercial exchange between the two countries amounted to £1.8 billion for 2021 despite of the setbacks due to Covid 19. 

Mr Tom Hill the Consul General of the British Consulate in Morocco and Director of the Department for International Trade in Casablanca expressed serious hopes in the exponential growth in trade and cultural exchanges in the years to come. This is especially so in the renewable energy sector with projects such as Xlinks, as well as in agriculture and in the healthcare sector in particular.  The UK has in fact provided £5 million of medical supplies to Morocco in 2021. Taking into account that the Moroccan government wishes to increase the level of healthcare coverage to its citizen in the years to come from the current 30% up to 90%, this prospect is delightful for the Moroccan citizens as well as promising for the potential trade exchange with the UK in the medical sector.

Under the provisions of Article 6 paragraph 2 and 3 of the Association Agreement, Gibraltar is included as a territory for whose international relations the United Kingdom is responsible. It is therefore without a doubt the case that Gibraltar benefits directly from the advantages of this Agreement and should fully consider Morocco as a trading partner. As H.E mentioned during the questions and answers part of the Webinar, there is an enormous enthusiasm and affection in Gibraltar for Morocco, and he is aware of the fact that the Gibraltar government is very active in promoting the trade and investment relationship with Morocco. His excellency finally mentioned the fact that there is a powerful Gibraltar representation in Tangier, alluding to the offices of the Gibraltar Morocco Business Association in Tangier.

The Webinar, and the opportunity for the Gibraltar Morocco Business Association to participate in it, has brought an enormous ray of hope in these uncertain times. It is interesting to note that the Anglo-Moroccan treaty of 1721 was instrumental in procuring a lifeline to Gibraltar and boosting trade between Morocco and the British Isles. Today again 300 years later it is Morocco that shows us the way to security and prosperity, and it would be foolish if not self-destructive to not embrace our neighbour from the south and structure a permanent trade and cultural relationship for the mutual benefit of Morocco and Gibraltar as well as for the region on both sides of the straits of Gibraltar, for any further information on how this agreement might open up new business opportunities for any Gibraltar Business can contact us on [email protected]