Moroccan Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia of Moroccan King Mohammed VI on the sidelines of the Euro-African summit last weekend in Abidjan returned to talk about opportunities to strengthen economic relations between Morocco and Algeria. At a time when the parties welcomed the move as the beginning of breaking the political chill that prevails in the relations between Morocco and Algeria and in preparation for the return of trade exchange between the two countries to the previous levels, experts believe that "handshake" remains a mere "protocol" will not change the economic relations between the two countries, Political intransigence "in Algeria and Rabat. "Economic relations between Morocco and Algeria can be described as an opportunity economy that is lost or wasted, given the huge profits that countries could have had if they had developed a framework for economic integration," economist Farhat Ali told Magharebia.
He added that "political calculations ruined the economic data in the Maghreb region, Algeria and Morocco could have achieved an increase in growth rates if they exploited their full economic potential, especially that Algeria is absent in Morocco, and what is in Morocco is not available Algeria, It can be an engine of relations. "
Algeria is the first trade partner of Morocco. According to the Algerian Agency for Investment Development on Foreign Trade of 2015, Algeria exported 667 million dollars to Morocco, which is equivalent to 1.77% of Algeria's exports, 60% of which is oil. Worth $ 310 million from Morocco.
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Relations between Algeria and Morocco in recent years have been characterized by a great deal of escalation that almost entered relations in the maze of "total estrangement"
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Experts believe that the economic relations between Morocco and Algeria could develop significantly without the differences over Western Sahara and the problem of closing the land border between the two countries, which led to the cessation of thousands of investment projects for the development of the Maghreb countries and resulted in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs, Economic integration of the region.
The relations between Algeria and Morocco in recent years have been characterized by a lot of escalation that almost entered the relations in the labyrinth of "total estrangement". The official ambassadors of the two countries were summoned by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Algeria and Morocco on several occasions under the pretext of "inquiring" or "protesting" In Algeria or Rabat.
The latest crisis between the two neighbors erupted in early November 2017. Morocco summoned its ambassador to Algeria for consultations after Algeria's Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel issued statements accusing Morocco of laundering "drug" money in Africa, Rabat "as" childish ".
"The handshake between Ouyahia and Mohamed VI last weekend in Abidjan with Ivory Coast is less than it can remove the ice between Algeria and Rabat at the political and economic levels," said Ismail Bougulet, a professor of international relations at the Algerian University, . He added that "political intransigence has become the master of decision rather than relying on the exchange of interests between the two countries. For example, if the agricultural integration between the two countries can make Algeria and Morocco dispense with what they import from Europe and the same in the field of services and handling."
"The Sahara file has become a matter of life or death for the two parties despite the official denial of problems in bilateral relations, but the reality says the opposite," he added.
The same spokesman said that "Algeria and Morocco have several files to invest in, first the long land border closed since 1994, which served as the artery of the Algerian and Moroccan economy, the second file is an Algerian gas pipeline project through the Moroccan territory towards southern Europe, one of the strategic interests Which combines the two neighboring countries, as it allows Algeria to sell gas to Spain and allows Morocco to deduct 10%, which is sold from Algerian gas passes over the Moroccan soil.
Algeria is suffering from a severe financial crisis due to falling oil prices. Authorities say the country has lost more than half of its foreign exchange earnings, from $ 60 billion in 2014 to $ 27.5 billion at the end of 2016.