Somalia and Morocco outline renewable-energy and technical-training cooperation

Somalia and Morocco have outlined cooperation in renewable energy, technical training and other economic sectors following meetings by a Somali federal government delegation in Rabat, according to the Somali National News Agency’s October 21 report. The discussions covered energy, mining, petroleum, water, agriculture and tourism, alongside opportunities for investment and knowledge exchange. The delegation included Abdullahi Hayir Duale, director general of Somalia’s Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, as well as the directors general of the agriculture and commerce ministries. Officials from the Somali Chamber of Commerce and banking associations also participated. Their Moroccan counterparts included the international cooperation agency, the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy, MASEN, the office responsible for mines and hydrocarbons, and the agriculture ministry. MASEN pledged to work with Somalia on developing solar and wind energy. The two sides also agreed on technical cooperation and training for Somali personnel in mining and petroleum. In agriculture, the ministries are to work on a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their relationship. These are cooperation commitments: the report does not identify a power-project award, financing amount, generation capacity or construction timetable. Tourism formed another part of the visit. Duale requested Moroccan assistance with hospitality training, a vocational institute, rehabilitation of coastal hotels, modernisation of heritage sites and promotion to international visitors. He described Somalia’s long coastline and the hotel and resort sites left awaiting rehabilitation after years of conflict. Morocco’s tourism ministry welcomed the proposals and said it would support promotion, professional training and exchanges of expertise, as well as development of the coastline and hotels. Both sides agreed to maintain contact to advance the cooperation. This account rests on SONNA’s official report alone and has not been independently corroborated.