Opportunities with Agadir

The Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce, the easternmost island of the Spanish Canary archipelago, has created a commercial promotion organism in Agadir, aimed at helping Canary Island companies to develop in this southern region of Morocco. For Santiago Diaz Romero, President of the commission for foreign trade at the Lanzarote Chamber, “it is a matter of perfecting sustained efforts in commercial integration.” Around fifty Canary Island businesses are established in the Moroccan province of Souss-Massa Drâa and efforts aiming to multiply bilateral exchanges have succeeded one another throughout the year. The Chambers of Commerce in Agadir and Lanzarote have sponsored numerous missions to bring Spanish and Moroccan entrepreneurs into contact with one another.Traditionally, bilateral commerce involved fishing and agriculture. However, current trends mean that an increasing number of partnerships are established in the tourist industry. Lanzarote, a volcanic island classified as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO and a world reference in terms of natural architecture, arouses the interest of Agadir, a town where a surge in tourism and environmental protection go hand in hand. The Canary Island Chamber wishes to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Moroccan coast, a new Eldorado for the hotel and construction industries, two sectors that are slowing down in the Canary archipelago. Having established contact with Moroccan advertising agencies, Santiago Diaz Romero is also working to develop tourist shopping. “We are endeavouring to promote the advantages of the maritime connection in order to rival Madrid and Paris,” he declares. It is nevertheless this very element which is experiencing some difficulty.Despite its launch being expected for last summer, the direct Lanzarote-Agadir line is still not yet in service. Only the Naviera Pinillos company offers a weekly connection between the Canary Islands and Morocco. And yet the stakes are high: situated at the crossroads of the continents, Lanzarote stands to gain from this development.