Strategic orientations

The blue economy is considered an essential pillar of Morocco’s New Development Model (NMD), offering a new opportunity for sustainable development.

Morocco, with its strategic geographical position, 3,500 km of coastline, as well as its fishing and energy resources, has considerable maritime capital and real potential in the blue economy. These assets make the country a key player in the sector, highlighting the opportunities for economic and sustainable development through this perspective.

Thus, the New Development Model (NMD) advocates unlocking the full potential of the blue economy to create the wealth and jobs needed to make territories resilient to climate change.

Excerpts from the new development model

• Axis 1: A productive, diversified economy, creating added value and quality jobs

  These could include the blue economy, tourism, high value-added offshoring, logistics, energy, digital, sustainable mobility, the social economy and more.

  Section - Strategic choices 2. Directing economic players towards productive activities

• Axis 4: Resilient territories as anchors for development

  These could include the blue economy, tourism, high value-added offshoring, logistics, energy, digital, sustainable mobility, the social economy and more.

  Section - Strategic choice 4: Preserving natural resources and strengthening regional resilience to climate change

The Moroccan government is creating a new national EB program to unleash the potential of this sector by sustainably developing marine and coastal areas through better vertical and horizontal institutional coordination, within and between the sectors concerned. The government program is based on three pillars:

• National food security;
• Economic development and job creation;
• Protecting and using natural resources.

This program is in line with strategic guidelines and confirms the government’s firm commitments to EB.
These guidelines include (i) the Royal Declarations; (ii) the recommendations of the general report on the NMD of April 2021, and (iii) the recommendations of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) report in 2018. The government program will be national in scope, and its implementation period will be aligned with the NMD (2022-2035). (Source: PAD4632).

As part of the development of this new EB government program, in June 2022 the Moroccan Government and the World Bank entered into a partnership to finance a Program for Results(PPR/P172926): Development of the Blue Economy in Morocco, in accordance with the provisions of Decree no. 2-22-518 of 21 hija 1443 (July 21, 2022)approving the $350 million loan agreement.

This five-year RPP aims to develop institutional frameworks, improve the integrated management of natural resources and strengthen selected sectors for a blue economy resilient to climate change in targeted areas. It is structured around two interdependent result areas (RAs) as follows:

•  DR 1: Strengthen integrated institutional frameworks for the development of the blue economy. It aims to establish a new collaborative operating model between sectors and regions, while drawing on behavioral knowledge and a collaborative leadership approach to facilitate cooperation,
• DR 2: Improve the integrated management of natural resources and strengthen selected sectors through (i) the development of the aquaculture sub-sector and support for sustainable tourism; (ii) the provision of vocational training in the EB sectors; and (iii) the protection and management of ecosystem services and the strengthening of climate resilience in targeted coastal and marine areas.

This RPP incorporates the promotion of coastal cluster approaches, as a mechanism to facilitate the aggregation and convergence of regional policies, and will support the development of a Blue Economy strategy.

Implementation of the PPR EB is steered and coordinated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). Eight implementing entities (MTEDDD, DPDPM, DPM, ANEF, ANDA, INRH, SMIT and ONMT) participate in the program and implement the respective activities. While the PPR EB focuses on a subset of the blue sectors, other sectoral departments and ministries are expected to participate in the broader government blue economy program.