The two nations have wasted no time in establishing a cooperative business arena since normalizing their relations in 2020.
What goes better with falafel than a huge pile of couscous and a heaping load of business cooperation? Honestly, a lot of things – even just fries – but don’t tell Israel and Morocco that.
On Monday in Geneva, the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco signed their first official Memorandum of Understanding on Intellectual Property, in a move that will both boost innovation and strengthen entrepreneurial relations between innovators in both countries.
The agreement was signed by the executive director of the Israel Patent Office (Justice Ministry), Adv. Ofir Alon and the director general of the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property, Mr. Abdelaziz Babqiqi. It was performed on the sidelines of the Sixty-Third Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva (WIPO), and witnessed by WIPO’s director general, Mr. Daren Tang.
The Memorandum will promote cooperation between the two nations in the field of industrial property protection, a subset of intellectual property that pertains to patents for inventions, trademarks, commercial names and designations, protection against unfair competition, and a host of other subjects.
Additionally, it will enable information sharing between the two nations’ intellectual property offices, while providing assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises hoping to protect their industrial property.
After the initial five years set in the agreement, it is set to automatically renew for further five-year periods.
“This agreement will enable entrepreneurs and innovators to build a more prosperous and sustainable future for future generations in Israel and Morocco.”
Meirav Eilon Shahar
The latest development
This is the latest development between Israel and Morocco following the re-establishment of normalized relations between the two countries in December 2020, in the framework of the Abraham Accords. Since then, Israel and Morocco have wasted no time in cross-pollinating their business markets.
Several international conferences have been held to promote the comingling of entrepreneurs and investors on both sides, and to marked success: earlier this year at the Morocco-Israel Connect to Innovate conference in Casablanca, over 13 Memorandums of Understanding were signed on the event floor, establishing an increasingly tighter network of cooperation between Israeli start-ups and their Moroccan counterparts.
Following Monday’s MOU signing, Ambassador Omar Zniber, permanent representative of Morocco to the United Nations in Geneva, noted the importance of this step in the nations’ business relationship.
“This MoU is the testimony of our will to develop our cooperation and partnership in innovation, creativity and high technology, targeting fundamental fields for both Israel and Morocco, such as water governance, agriculture, science technology and competitiveness,” he said.
“This agreement will enable entrepreneurs and innovators to build a more prosperous and sustainable future for future generations in Israel and Morocco,” said Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva. “We value this bilateral cooperation and will work to expand it throughout the multilateral arena from Geneva.”