RABAT, 16 May 2022 – Gerd Müller, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), is making an official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco to discuss future cooperation between UNIDO and Morocco.

The Director General met with Aziz Akhannouch, Head of Government of Morocco, and agreed on stronger cooperation and a new joint initiative on green hydrogen.

Müller said, “Together, we have achieved great success in many areas to advance industrial development in the country. We have cooperated on more than 250 projects, and in 2019 we signed a new framework for cooperation: the Programme for Country Partnership. Today, we renew our commitment to take this cooperation further.”

During a meeting with Ryad Mezzour, Minister of Industry and Trade, the two agreed to join forces to accelerate the Programme for Country Partnership, implement a road map for the decarbonization of industry and mobilize green funding. They also launched a portal on industrial zones, jointly developed with MCA-Morocco (a programme agreed by Morocco and the US Millennium Challenge Corporation) to promote investment in industry and strengthen competitiveness.

In a second joint declaration, signed by Müller, Mezzour, and Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, UNIDO and Morocco agreed to accelerate the use of green hydrogen in industry.

Mezzour said, “This new impetus given to our partnership will promote the emergence of highly relevant projects responding to the major challenges of our industry, particularly in terms of industrial decarbonization and resilient, inclusive and sustainable development, as well as the priorities of the Kingdom’s New Development Model. It will undoubtedly contribute to achieving our goal of making Morocco the most competitive low-carbon industrial base in the world.”

For his part, Müller underlined, “UNIDO will provide strong support to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, which directly contributes to Morocco`s New Development Model. As we join forces with other UN agencies, UNIDO will use its partnership platform to support Morocco in renewable energy, a circular economy and data-driven industry to realize ambitious decarbonization goals for the industrial sector and the Sustainable Development Goals”.

The UNIDO delegation started the mission in Morocco by visiting the Mohammed V Mausoleum to pay tribute to the late sovereigns, King Hassan II and King Mohammed V.