Rabat and Beijing celebrate the 65th anniversary of the start of their diplomatic relations, through a meeting between Aziz Akhannouch, President of the Moroccan Government, and Zhao Liji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Assembly of the People’s Republic of China, during which many common issues were addressed, most notably the expansion of economic partnership to reach strategic sectors. .
China did not hide its intention to obtain a deal for the TGV railway project linking Casablanca with Agadir, as it had previously announced this through its ambassador to the Kingdom, Li Changlin, in a previous interview with the electronic newspaper Hespress, which increases The hypothesis is that the recent memorial meeting is “a new attempt by Beijing to confirm its desire.”
The Chinese desire collides with the aspirations of other countries, the first of which is France, which considers itself the founder of the project, after the construction of the first line linking Tangiers and Casablanca was its share, and with Morocco announcing its project to establish the second line, Paris considered, according to French media reports, that “this new project is one of It is natural for her to have this because of her long experience in the field.”
However, with the emergence of the current crisis between Paris and Rabat, the indications of France winning the completion of this second line of the high-speed train appear to be “slim”, to highlight the name of the Chinese company “China Railway Construction Corp”, especially since its reputation increased after its success in constructing the Mohammed VI Bridge, which is the largest in the world. Africa.
Rachid Sari, an economic analyst, highlighted that “the economic relations between Beijing and Rabat are going in a strategic direction since the visit of the Moroccan monarch to China in 2016, during which important agreements were signed, and Morocco has also been heavily involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in 2021, which is This highlights the desire of the two countries to double the size of the economic opportunities between them.
--“It is very likely that the recent meeting between China and Morocco on the occasion of the anniversary of the establishment of relations between them touched on China’s desire to obtain a TG deal in the link between Agadir and Casablanca, but it is not the main point of the meeting,” Sari explains in an interview with Hespress, before explaining that “The most important project that attracts the interest of both parties is the Belt and Road Initiative, through which Morocco seeks to play a central commercial role in the world, especially since the project aims to link the countries of the world with the brown continent.”
The same economic analyst continued, saying, “The industrial qualifications that Morocco possesses today encourage Chinese investors to put their money in our country, and also encourage them to take Morocco as a trade mediator with West Africa and Europe, given its strategic location.”
The Chinese offer is distinguished from other offers wishing to win the “TGV project in Al-Bayda-Agadir,” according to the aforementioned spokesman, in that “China has long-term experience in this field, in addition to the low costs required by Chinese companies, in addition to the presence of financing strength.” A Chinese company gives guarantees that the project will be completed on time without problems.”
The author of Hespress warned against “putting full confidence in the terms that Beijing puts in the completion of any strategic economic project, as it usually requests financial guarantees that may mortgage the economy of any country, which happened in many African countries, led by Uganda.”
