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The Art of Navigating Global Disorder
Renault plant near Tangier, Morocco.
Renault plant near Tangier, Morocco.Photographer:
A burgeoning industrial zone outside the Moroccan city of Tangier offers a prime example. It’s home to Africa’s biggest car-assembly factory and is powered by investment from companies from Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan and the US.
Morroco’s King Mohammed VI conceived the Tanger Med port project 20 years ago in what seems like a bygone era. China had just joined the world’s rules-based trading regime and his country was negotiating a US free-trade deal backed by American multinationals from Boeing to Intel.
The idea was that Morocco would sit at the crossroads of a peaceful world teeming with trade and capital flows. Foreign investment flocked in, auto and aerospace industries took root, employing tens of thousands of young Moroccans, and local engineering schools thrived.
It’s largely succeeded. Today the port rivals the oldest maritime gateways in Europe.
Morocco’s Industrial and Shipping Base
The kingdom has developed the Tanger Med port and zones since 2001
Morocco’s security ties are firmly hitched to the US and Europe — it’s designated a “major non-NATO ally.” Along with Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia, the Muslim kingdom hosts the US and NATO forces for “African Lion” training exercises each year.
At the same time, China’s presence is growing.
Huawei and ZTE — two tech giants sanctioned by the US over national-security risk concerns — are aggressively recruiting engineers. Among the newer operators in the auto cluster is the fiber-optic cable producer ZTT Group, an active player in Beijing’s grand plan to crisscross the planet with Belt and Road infrastructure.
Morocco is walking a diplomatic tightrope that many middle-income nations in an increasingly polarized world, from South Africa to Brazil, are struggling to navigate. Their common challenge is avoiding getting trampled, like the lesson from an African proverb: When elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.
Morocco is betting its economy is paved with something more durable than turf.
Bloomberg
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