The North

Anchored by the port city of Tangiers, Morocco’s diverse northern region has undergone a significant transformation in the past 10 years thanks in large part to efforts to decentralise governance, boost local infrastructure and encourage industrial growth. The crux of these efforts is an integrated economic development plan that aims to capitalise on the region’s location at the juncture of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and along key maritime trade routes. In addition, a five-year urban and economic development plan, Tangiers-Metropolis, launched in September 2013, aims to invest another Dh7.66bn (€680.2m) in the greater Tangiers area between 2013 and 2017 to reinforce its position as a motor of the national economy. Today, Tangiers-Tétouan is the second-largest recipient of FDI inflows after the greater Casablanca area. While the port-industrial complex in Tangiers has been the focus of public and private investment in the past decade, the region’s growth has opened up possibilities in a number of sectors, including tourism, services, information and communications technology, offshoring and agriculture. This chapter contains interviews with Fouad Brini, President of the Supervisory Council, Tangiers Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA), and Julianne M Furman, Founder, Tangiers Free Zone Investors Assoc.; President, Polydesign Systems; and GM, Exco Automotive Solutions Europe.