Garamendi will not finally attend the business forum in Rabat that Sánchez closes

RABAT, Feb. 1 (From the special envoy of EUROPA PRESS, Leyre Guijo) -

The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, will not attend this afternoon the business forum organized by the Spanish employers' association together with the Moroccan and the Chamber of Commerce and which will be closed by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, together with the Moroccan Prime Minister, Aziz Ahanuch.

From the CEOE they have confirmed to Europa Press that Garamendi, who had to intervene according to the program at the inauguration of the forum, will not finally attend for personal reasons.

The absence of the president of the employers' association occurs one day after Sánchez announced in the Senate an 8% increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) to place it at 1,080 euros per month in 2023, after reaching an agreement with the UGT and CCOO.

The business forum is the first act on Sánchez's agenda on his trip to Rabat on the occasion of the XII High Level Meeting (RAN) with Morocco, which will take place this Thursday. The event is also expected to involve the Minister of Commerce, Reyes Maroto, as well as the heads of Economy and Finance and Industry and Commerce of Morocco, Nadia Fettah and Fuad Mezzur.

In the Government they trust that the new relationship with Morocco will also translate into new opportunities for Spanish companies in some of the projects that the country has on the table, especially infrastructure, since until now they had been left on the sidelines.

Among the twenty agreements that will be signed during the RAN is a new financial protocol that will take over from the 2008 protocol and will be endowed with 800 million euros, double the previous one. With it, the Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, will help finance projects by Spanish companies, both large and SMEs, in Morocco.

The Alaouite kingdom is one of Spain's main trade and investment partners. 50% of Spanish exports to Africa go to Morocco, where 17,600 companies exported in 2021, of which 6,150 were regular exporters and 2,300 exported services.

It is also the main investment destination on the entire continent, with 2,000 million in investment stock in 2020, which places Spain only behind France and the United Arab Emirates. In Morocco there are currently 674 Spanish companies installed as well as 530 subsidiaries that provide direct employment to 20,000 people.