Casablanca Finance City: Helping businesses grow in African markets
In a written interview, Said Ibrahimi, CEO of Casablanca Finance City, a leading financial center in Africa, talked about CFC’s role in helping international investors develop their businesses in Africa and his expectations for stronger China-Morocco and more broadly China-Africa economic ties.
It is clear that our leadership relies primarily on Morocco’s numerous assets, which include a stable political framework, solid macroeconomic stability, excellent infrastructure, and unique connectivity at the crossroads of Europe and Africa.
On top of these intrinsic strengths, CFC offers a set of very competitive and attractive elements, which enable companies to be part of a rare business community exclusively dedicated to Africa.
To illustrate this, the Bank of China, China’s oldest financial institution, opened an office at CFC, which now supports Chinese companies in Africa. This is a strategy followed by over 150 corporations based at CFC, such as BNP Paribas, the Africa50 Infrastructure Fund and the Boston Consulting Group.
Since the signing of a multidimensional strategic partnership between King Mohammed VI and President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2016, there is a new momentum in China-Morocco relations.
Many companies are already active in Morocco. Some will eventually choose CFC to develop in Africa. The Bank of China will be there to facilitate their expansion. And Morocco’s banks are doing the same in China, for instance, BMCE Bank of Africa, one of Morocco’s largest banks, opened an office in Shanghai last year.
Huawei is a great example of what can be expected. Since 2017, more than 100 people were relocated from Egypt, thus making Morocco a central country in the group’s strategy for Africa.
One cannot overstate the importance of a stable and competitive platform linking both Europe and Africa. This is why I believe Morocco and CFC will play an even more pivotal role for Chinese investors planning to enter both European and African markets.
There are two Chinese companies so far, Bank of China and Huawei, who are part of CFC, are you expecting more in the future?
Last May, we were indeed honored to sign an agreement with the Xicheng Financial District Development Promotion Center, the first-ever partnership of CFC with a Chinese financial center. We are also actively working on other new agreements with other cities in China.
Our objective is to join our efforts to boost Africa’s development and mutually support international investors across the continent.
We are hopeful that these cooperation agreements will play an instrumental role in fostering business ties between China, Morocco and Africa.
You recently signed a partnership with Beijing’s Xicheng Financial District Development Promotion Center. Can you tell us more about this?