The investment aims to create 11,000 direct jobs in several Moroccan regions within three years.
Rabat – Chinese textile giant Sunrise announced plans to invest MAD 4.1 billion ($ 422.2 million) in Morocco.
The announcement came during a meeting between Lei Xu, president of Sunrise Group, and Morocco’s Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch, on Saturday.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of Akhannouch’s visit to Beijing, where he represented King Mohammed VI at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit (FOCAC).
During the meeting, Akhannouch expressed support for the Chinese company’s investment projects amounting to $422.2 million.
The project is set to create 11,000 direct jobs within three years across several provinces and regions in Morocco.
This job creation will be under the establishment of industrial complexes covering the entire value chain.
Moroccan news agency MAP reported that the investment will “revitalize the national textile sector, which is fully integrated into global value chains and will contribute to the government’s strategy of prioritizing job creation.”
The Moroccan government has long emphasized the importance of the textile sector as one of the major contributors to the country’s economy.
In 2022, Abdellatif Jouahri, governor of Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al Maghrib, said that the textile industry is a priority within the country’s investment strategy.
Jouahri added that Morocco’s textile industry makes up 32.3% of Morocco’s national production enterprise, against a 25.6% global average between 2000 to 2019.
This year, a study from French association Evalliance said Morocco has the third highest minimum wage among EU apparel suppliers.
At $307 per month, the North African country surpasses those of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Myanmar by a significant margin and stands 50% higher than Tunisia’s.