Statement by the Royal Office

Rabat – Here follows the translation of a statement by the Royal Office :

“His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, chaired a working meeting on the new port and industrial complex of Nador West Med, on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at the Royal Palace in Casablanca. This working meeting, which comes ahead of the port’s operational launch in the fourth quarter of this year, is part of the Royal Vision aimed at sustainably anchoring the Kingdom’s economy to global value chains through the establishment of world-class port infrastructure. During the working meeting, a presentation was given to His Majesty the King by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nador West Med, Fouad Brini, on the progress of the project and the achievements to date. Following the international success of Tanger Med, which has become the leading port hub in Africa and the Mediterranean, the new Nador West Med project extends this Royal Ambition to build an efficient and complementary national port system that will boost competitiveness of the national economy, create jobs, and promote balanced territorial development. Designed as an integrated project, it is based on a next-generation port complex backed by a vast industrial, logistics, and energy platform. To this day, it has attracted public and private investment totaling MAD 51 billion. On the port side, all basic infrastructure is now complete and includes 5.4 km of breakwaters, 4 km of quays, and 4 power stations. The port concession contracts for the two container terminals have been signed and will gradually come into effect starting this year. Nador West Med is also rolling out a new offering, an energy hub comprising the Kingdom’s first liquefied natural gas terminal, with an annual capacity of 5 billion m³, as well as a hydrocarbon terminal. This strategic component directly addresses the Kingdom’s energy sovereignty requirements. At startup, the port will host an annual capacity of 5 million containers and 35 million tonnes of liquid and solid bulk cargo. Eventually, the additional annual development potential is 12 million containers and 15 million tonnes of liquid bulk cargo. Linked to the port complex, the project also provides for the deployment of new activity zones spanning an area of 700 hectares in a first phase, which have already recorded the initial installations of international operators. Private investments in the new port and industrial complex, amounting so far to a total of MAD 20 billion, reflect the trust that leading international maritime and industrial operators place in Morocco. At the close of the meeting, His Majesty the King, may God assist Him, issued His High Instructions to the various stakeholders to take all the necessary measures to ensure that the project is launched under the best conditions, and to proceed with the rapid implementation of specific training programs in order to support investors, facilitate youth integration, and enhance their employability. The Sovereign also issued His High Instructions to ensure that the impact of these investments benefits all the provinces that are part of the port’s influence zone, to support the project with territorial upgrading programs in order to improve the region’s quality of life, and to implement a multidimensional action plan that preserves the future development of the project. This meeting was attended by the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit; the Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah; the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka; the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour; the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali; as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nador West Med, Fouad Brini.