For SWISSECO, Samia Terhzaz, Deputy Director General of the CGEM, discusses the most promising sectors, the levers being used to enhance Morocco’s attractiveness to Swiss investors, and the conditions needed to enable SMEs to benefit fully from this momentum.
Which sectors currently offer the most immediately actionable potential for cooperation between Morocco and Switzerland?
The Morocco-Switzerland Economic Forum organised in Zurich by Economie Suisse and the CGEM allowed us to confirm what we had sensed: the complementarity between the Moroccan and Swiss economies is real and it is creating windows of opportunity. The sectors in which we see the most immediately actionable potential are, first and foremost, renewable energies.
Morocco has set itself the ambitious target of more than 52% of installed capacity by 2030, and Swiss companies, recognised for their expertise in clean technologies, precision engineering and energy storage solutions, clearly have a role to play in this transition. It is a sector where Moroccan needs and Swiss know-how meet naturally and immediately.
Advanced manufacturing and aeronautics are also areas with strong potential. Morocco is today Africa’s leading automotive exporter and its aeronautics ecosystem comprises more than 140 companies. This mature industrial base calls for partnerships in subcontracting, technological upgrading and skills transfer, all areas in which Swiss companies excel.
Infrastructure is another priority area. Morocco is engaged in large-scale projects, particularly in preparation for the 2030 World Cup, which are mobilising massive investment in transport, logistics and urban planning. Swiss companies specialising in engineering and smart urban solutions will find significant opportunities there.
Finally, new technologies and digital transformation are a natural area for collaboration: Switzerland has recognised know-how that Morocco needs in order to modernise and upgrade its industry and services.
What levers does the CGEM intend to activate to turn Morocco’s strategic positioning into concrete investments for Swiss companies?
Our role at the CGEM is precisely to bridge the gap between Morocco’s strategic positioning, as a leading industrial and financial platform in Africa and a gateway to a market of more than 1.5 billion consumers, and the concrete investment decisions of foreign operators, particularly Swiss ones.
To this end, we are working on several levers. First, direct business-to-business matchmaking, as we did in Zurich with the networking sessions and the presentation of Casablanca Finance City.
Second, the dissemination of reliable and up-to-date information on Morocco’s fundamentals, particularly those related to the business climate: sustained growth, controlled inflation, and institutional and regulatory stability that offer investors real visibility.
Finally, we are working to make this momentum last: the organisation of a Swiss business mission to Morocco in 2027, mentioned during the forum, is a direct illustration of this. The aim is not to multiply events, but to build long-term partnerships.
How can we ensure that SMEs also benefit concretely from these bilateral dynamics?
For the CGEM, this question is central. SMEs account for 95% of our members and they are more affected by internationalisation.
Our deep conviction is that access to foreign markets cannot rely solely on the individual capacities of each company. A Moroccan SME, however competitive it may be, does not always have the human, financial or information resources to identify a Swiss partner, understand its regulatory environment and establish a lasting business relationship. This is precisely where the CGEM comes in.
Our role is to be an aggregator and a facilitator. We collectively convey messages that companies cannot convey on their own, we build institutional bridges and we organise targeted matchmaking.
This involves systematically including SMEs in trade missions and developing practical tools to support exporting, the search for partners and the understanding of target markets.
Ultimately, the challenge is to ensure that agreements concluded at institutional level translate into concrete opportunities on the ground, including for regional SMEs that have not yet explored the Swiss market but have the potential to grow there.