Morocco’s push to embed corporate integrity into its economic model took center stage in Rabat on Tuesday, where officials marked a double anniversary: fifteen years since the creation of the Moroccan National Contact Point and fifty years since the OECD first adopted its Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises back in 1976.
Opening a two-day forum organized by the Moroccan Investment and Export Development Agency, Mohamed Benalilou, head of the National Authority for Probity, Prevention and the Fight Against Corruption, left no doubt about where responsibility now sits. « We regard the private sector as an essential partner in building the national integrity system, » he told an audience of public officials and business leaders, pointing to companies’ expertise and their ability to root responsible conduct into everyday economic activity.
Benalilou framed compliance with international standards as far more than a box-ticking exercise. Adapting to these norms, he argued, has become a precondition for staying competitive, winning access to new markets, and attracting investors and partners willing to commit for the long haul. « Strengthening responsible conduct is fundamental to consolidating accountability, but it is also a remarkable opportunity to improve governance and build trust, » he said.
Abdellatif Zaghnoun, head of the National Agency for the Strategic Management of State Shareholdings, struck a similar note in remarks read on his behalf. Over the past fifteen years, he said, responsible business conduct has moved well beyond declarations of intent and now shows up directly in contracts. With protectionism resurging worldwide and supply-chain security becoming a strategic imperative, responsible conduct, he suggested, has turned into a genuine competitive edge rather than a nicety.
The opening session culminated in the signing of five memoranda of understanding between AMDIE and a cluster of institutional and economic partners: the anti-corruption authority INPPLC, the state-holdings agency ANGSPE, the Moroccan employers’ confederation CGEM, the textile industry association AMITH, and the food industry federation FENAGRI. The agreements are meant to lock governance and sustainability more firmly into the Kingdom’s economic transformation.
Since 2024, the National Contact Point has already toured seven of Morocco’s regions, run an equal number of regional events and training workshops, and taken part in thirty-one further gatherings promoting responsible business conduct. Organizers made clear the campaign is far from finished, and that the test ahead lies less in commitments than in demonstrated results.
