- Peace: The Sole Driver of Growth
- Connecting and supplying to advance
- Investing also means making sacrifices
- Economic Inclusion in the Service of Civilizations
- AI Literacy and Governance
On the second day of the Mata International Festival, the ELI Morocco Forum was held at the Hilton Tangier Al Houara Hotel. This Dialogue and Civilization Investment Forum aimed to promote investment opportunities in Morocco, advocating for peace as the foundation for genuine development.
The event was attended by three Moroccan ministers: the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka; the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour; and the Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Businesses, Employment, and Skills, Younes Sekkouri, accompanied by international experts in key economic sectors such as energy, transportation, infrastructure, industry, and employment; as well as specialists in Sufism and the dialogue of civilizations. The presentation on Growth and Artificial Intelligence by Spanish expert Guillermo Taboada drew particular attention.
Nabil Baraka, president of the Équestre Mata International Festival and founder of Eli Morocco stated that: “We have created this first initiative to strengthen economic exchange through the dialogue of civilizations”; emphasizing that “Moroccan, African, and international youth need economic leaders and advocates for dialogue among civilizations to ensure a more sustainable and inclusive future.”
Peace: The Sole Driver of Growth
Nabil Baraka stated during his participation in the Dialogue and Civilization Forum organized in Tangier as part of the Mata International Festival that, following in the footsteps of Moulay Abdeslam Ben Mchich, founder of the Sufi path, all these leaders have come together to create a unique forum linking the economy with dialogue among civilizations in a world fragmented by divisions.
“The Investment Forum was attended by leaders from Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Palestine, Israel, Germany, as well as from across Latin America, who have come to commit themselves under the authority of King Mohammed VI, so that peace may be the sole driver of growth,” he added.
Baraka recalled, in this regard, the Moroccan tradition rooted in the values inherited from the Alawite monarchy and applied in the peace diplomacy adopted by the Kingdom since the time of the late King Mohammed V. This diplomacy aims to make Morocco “the center of Africa and the Atlantic world”.
Connecting and supplying to advance
The Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, highlighted the royal vision regarding water stress, shifting—after seven consecutive years of drought—from a policy based primarily on dams and the use of groundwater to a concrete policy solution focused on surface water.
“Morocco has 156 dams with a capacity of 21 billion cubic meters and is in the process of building another 14 dams, with the goal of reaching the equivalent of 27 billion cubic meters of storage capacity by 2030,” Baraka stated.
According to him, this paradigm shift is based on water desalination, which has increased from 46 million cubic meters in 2021 to 410 million cubic meters in 2026, with the ambition of reaching 1.7 billion cubic meters by 2030.
The Minister of Water recalled the vision of the Alawite sovereign, who believes that water infrastructure constitutes a true means of development capable of making Morocco, together with its logistics, a true regional power; citing the desalination plants in:
· Casablanca, with 300 million cubic meters, set to be completed in 2027.
· Dajla, which will be ready by the end of 2026 with a capacity of 37 million cubic meters.
· Nador, launched this year with a capacity of 250 million cubic meters.
· Tangier, with a capacity of 150 million cubic meters.
· Guelmim, with a capacity of 35 million cubic meters.
· Agadir, with a capacity of 350 million cubic meters.
“The primary goal of these major projects is to meet 60% of our guaranteed water needs through desalination by the year 2030, thereby tripling our capacity to conserve water,” stated Nizar Baraka.
In this context, the Minister of Water highlighted Morocco’s achievement in the Water Highway, a megaproject for interconnecting river basins through the first phase linking the Sebou and Bouregreg rivers (67 kilometers) and the second phase launched to extend to Oum Rabii (400 kilometers of transfer).
Regarding road infrastructure, Baraka highlighted the goal set by the King to reach 3,000 km of highways, noting that “we currently have 1,800 km, with another 200 km under construction, bringing the national total to 2,200 km, and an additional 1,000 km in the pipeline.”
Investing also means making sacrifices
The Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, stated that, to achieve its development goals, Morocco is investing heavily in infrastructure, as part of a national strategy aimed at transforming infrastructure and logistics into progress, jobs, and prosperity.
In this regard, Mezzour acknowledged the sacrifices involved in this vision, which go hand in hand with attracting future investors and opening national markets through free trade agreements linking Morocco with more than 100 countries, providing access to 3.5 billion consumers.
“In fact, when you ask a country to open its market to you in protected productive sectors, it is a sacrifice; without losing sight of the potential costs borne by the government, such as the bankruptcy of local companies unable to compete and the heavy tax burden resulting from tax cuts or concessions granted to multinational corporations,” explained the Minister of Industry.
Nevertheless, Morocco stands out for its consistency and agility in pursuing an ambitious industrialization trajectory; focusing on the automotive sector, battery manufacturing, and battery management. It is also committed to economic integration in promising sectors such as green energy and the aerospace industry.
Economic Inclusion in the Service of Civilizations
Analyzing the relationship between the economy and civilization, the Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Businesses, Employment, and Skills, Younes Sekkouri clarified that “for the dialogue of civilizations to succeed, it needs a political project, local ties, and economic inclusion.”
“It is time for the 21st century to bridge the gap between a world that must fight poverty and exclusion and work toward achieving effective economic inclusion capable of ensuring sustainable development; building bridges of cooperation and solidarity among the world’s nations,” said Sekkouri.
Economic inclusion, according to the Minister of Employment, represents an essential lever for civilizations to prosper sustainably, especially when equitable access to opportunities and financial services is guaranteed.
In this context, Sekkouri highlighted the government policies and business strategies implemented to ensure equity and social progress; aimed at modernizing the productive sector and protecting the labor market, which directly results in social cohesion and poverty reduction.
AI Literacy and Governance
The ELI Morocco Forum featured presentations by numerous international experts in key economic sectors such as energy, transportation, infrastructure, industry, and employment, as well as specialists in Sufism and the dialogue of civilizations.
Particular attention was drawn to the presentation on Growth and Artificial Intelligence by Spanish expert Guillermo Taboada, who called for a return to principles and values to properly manage a tool as powerful as Artificial Intelligence and asserted that AI literacy and governance are absolutely necessary to exercise active, positive, and effective control to avoid a situation where human beings become mere pawns.
Taboada explained the need to reflect calmly in order to address the enormous capabilities before us and recommended, in the face of the overwhelming speed of change, the use of the “Slow AI,” to calmly and properly analyze the essential parameters we must employ to create a good artificial intelligence agent that allows us to exponentially improve our capabilities.
In addition to the panel on inclusive growth and AI, other panels were held on port infrastructure and major infrastructure projects, industry and free trade zones, youth, values and leadership / dialogue of civilizations, energy transition and sustainable development, Morocco’s Vision 2030: investment and the FIFA World Cup – Morocco, Portugal, and Spain; economic development and dialogue of civilizations; investment and tourism; ethical codes and business; and the baraka of Jerusalem and Morocco in fostering peace in the region.
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