- Title: MOROCCO: Morocco seeks to boost offshore investment
- Date: 12th March 2008
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) ABDERRAFIE HANOUF, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, TECHNOPARK, SAYING: "Morocco has its place in this sector by taking all the necessary measures: a better education system, its economic and regulatory framework, the necessary incentives to attract foreign investment, and also a scheme for providing an infrastructure of international standards. All these ingredients make Morocco an international platform that is attracting many investors." PHOTOGRAPH OF KING MOHAMMED VI INAUGURATING CASABLANCA NEARSHORE PARK NEW BUILDING IN CASABLANCA NEARSHORE PARK/ ENTRANCE WINDOW CLEANERS AT WORK BUILDING EXTERIOR INTERIORS OF A BUILDING IN CASABLANCA NEARSHORE PARK VARIOUS OF WORKERS INSIDE BUILDING COMPANY MEETING IN A BUILDING IN CASABLANCA NEARSHORE PARK DRAWING BEING SHOWN DURING COMPANY MEETING VARIOUS OF MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (French) MOHAMMED LASRY, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, CASABLANCA NEARSHORE PARK, SAYING: "Our objective is to give Morocco a head-start with a competitive offer that integrates: a great human resource potential, which is central to this sector, a telecommunications network of excellent quality with very high bandwidth, and proximity to Europe. That is why we are targeting the Francophone market." VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEES WORKING AT THEIR COMPUTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOHAMMED HORANE, HPS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SAYING: "We are one of the top ten companies in the world in our field. That means that Morocco can offer high quality services with added value. So we can become very prominent in this field." EMPLOYEES AT WORK COMPUTER HARD DRIVES VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEES AT WORK
- Embargoed: 27th March 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Morocco
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: Economic News
- Reuters ID: LVAD046ZFPD7XBC0BSFOPFMNXCZZ
- Story Text: Strategically located between Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean, Casablanca is trying to attract international offshore and nearshore investors.
France, Spanish and other European companies are increasingly using neighbouring Morocco as a destination for their offshore and nearshore investments.
The coastal city of Casablanca has recently opened its doors to some of the big names of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) sectors, at its new Casablanca Nearshore Park.
"Our objective is to give Morocco a head-start with a competitive offer that integrates: a great human resource potential, which is central to this sector, a telecommunications network of excellent quality with very high bandwidth, and proximity to Europe. That is why we are targeting the Francophone market," director-general of the Nearshore Park, Mohammed Lasry, told Reuters.
Part of a government initiative to boost investments in the North African Kingdom, the Casablanca Nearshore Park offers the latest information technology (IT) services sold at 35 percent less than average prices, office rental space at a competitive eight euros per square metre, and numerous tax incentives. Companies benefit from a 100 percent tax exemption for the first five years of investment and fifty percent afterwards, as well as a fixed 20 percent reduction on income tax for employees.
Following in the footsteps of the successful Casablanca Technopark that is home to over 350 IT companies, the Nearshore Park hopes to attract even more investors from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Occupied by both local and foreign companies, the annual export turnover of the 30,000-square-metre Technopark averages 500 million Moroccan dirhams (67,532,888 USD).
"Morocco has its place in this sector by taking all the necessary measures: a better education system, its economic and regulatory framework, the necessary incentives to attract foreign investment, and also a scheme for providing an infrastructure of international standards. All these ingredients make Morocco an international platform that is attracting many investors," said Technopark director-general Abderrafie Hanouf.
Although some of the companies at the Technopark are start-ups with a small workforce, some have been real success stories.
One of them is Hightech Payment Systems (HPS), a Moroccan company whose main product, the Powercard is used by 150 banks and other financial institutions in fifty countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"We are one of the top ten companies in the world in our field.
That means that Morocco can offer high quality services with added value. So we can become very prominent in this field," chief executive Mohammed Hourane told Reuters.
The coastal city of Casablanca hosts 75 percent of all jobs in the Moroccan IT sector and is now seeking to achieve similar results with the offshore and nearshore investment sector.
According to the Regional Centre for Investment (CRI), Greater Casablanca attracted 10 billion dirhams (1.3 billion USD) of investment in 2006, creating more than 40,000 permanent jobs in the region. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
