The Abraham Accords has led to growth in economic and business ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Now Morocco wants in on that, too. Two large delegations from Morocco arrived in Israel over the last few weeks. These included several dozen heads of major companies, businessmen, high-tech entrepreneurs and investors. At the same time, an Israeli delegation from the Israel Export Institute, the Chamber of Commerce and the Israel Industrialists Union set off for Casablanca March 29, for a four-day visit.

One of the two Moroccan delegations — the General Confederation of Businesses of Morocco — came to Israel March 13 for a special three-day event. At this conference of business leaders, the two countries signed an agreement to improve economic cooperation between Israel and Moroccan companies, which included the expansion of business infrastructures between the two countries.

General Manager of Morocco’s Ministry of Industry and Trade Abdelouahed Rahal told Al-Monitor that his country has free trade agreements with dozens of countries, representing 2 million consumers. He said that it is in talks to sign a similar free trade agreement with Israel.

Chakib Alj, president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Industries (CGEM), told Al-Monitor that after arriving in Israel he realized that there is much more potential than he previously imagined. As expected, the main areas of cooperation will be agriculture, with an emphasis on agriculture in arid desert regions, of which Morocco has many, the controlled use of water, grey water usage and desalination. When it comes to grey water, he noted that Morocco only reuses some 20% of its sewage waters, but that it wants to learn how to raise that to Israeli levels. “We need water especially, and the availability of water at these levels would make it possible for us to exploit our agricultural lands in desert regions,” he said.