Morocco's regional integration in Africa: what gains for Moroccan trade and FDI?

Abstract

The emergence of new regional powers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America has led to the creation of new regional organizations. Some countries tend to consolidate their complex, informal, and multifaceted nature represented by the new regionalism of the post-Cold War era, while others opt for the emergence of a more competitive regionalism.Africa has continued to attract particular interest from Morocco in recent years. The motivations behind this new strategic vision can be appreciated from two essential points: commercial and sociopolitical. Indeed, the reorientation of Moroccan commercial interests and investments towards Africa, particularly Francophone West Africa, is mainly explained by the failure of the Arab Maghreb Union project, the maturity phase characterizing its commercial exchanges in Europe, the projected growth potential of West African economies, as well as their rapid demographic progression and consumer power.In this context, the objective of this article is, first, to present the main definitions of regional integration and to outline its potential gains through a review of traditional literature. Secondly, it will provide an assessment of the current state of regional integration of Morocco in Africa, discussing the cases of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ultimately leading to an analysis of the impact of this regional integration on Moroccan commercial exchanges and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Keywords: regional integration, trade, FDI. 

Classification JEL : F1, F2, F4

Paper type: theoretical Research