LONDON: Japan and Morocco inked a new deal that would see the Asian economic giant assist the North African country on renewable solar energy projects. Morocco has been looking for investors as it pushes on with efforts to develop and construct the world's largest solar energy project in the desert. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the second Arab-Japanese Forum, held in Tunisia, by CEO of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy Mustapha Bakkoury, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akihiro Ohata and President of the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Murata Serjii. Bakkouri told MAP that the agreement is “very important” as it will contribute to developing the Moroccan solar plan launched a year ago. This agreement aims to benefit Morocco from the Japanese experience, notably in terms of power generation and electricity networks management in order to produce electricity using renewable energies, he said. Japan has been moving toward investing in the ambitious project, estimated to cost billions of dollars. Tokyo believes that by putting its backing to such projects, it can help Morocco prove that alternative energy ideas can become a reality. “We believe that Morocco is a great example that the world must take notice of,” said Mori Toyama, a environment ministry official who was in Tunisia to help the deal push through. He told Bikya Masr via telephone that “the world can no longer wait to see if solar energy will be profitable economically because it has to be in the near future as petroleum and other energy sources become scarcer.” BM
