This strategic partnership aims to increase food security on the continent, and is part of South-South cooperation.

  On a continent where nearly 80 per cent of arable land is not exploited, this unprecedented project aims to produce phosphate and ammonia fertilizer that is adapted to the specificities of the different ecosystems that make up African soil, and enhance agricultural potential for sustainable human development.

  Total production capacity will be around 2 million tons of fertilizer per year by 2018, which will be directed primarily towards African countries.

   The potential for exploitation could reach 8 million tons per year, due to the strong demand for adequate and accessible fertilizer.
 
   On this occasion, Mostapha Terrab, CEO of The Office Cherifien de Phosphate (OCP) gave a presentation on this partnership which integrates the natural resources of both countries (phosphate and gas).

   This initiative seeks to build fertilizer plants:

In Gabon: 1 Ammonia Production unit (from Gabonese gas), the first unit of its kind in the region, and which supplies neighboring markets, and 1 fertilizer production unit.
 
In Morocco: two production units of Phosphoric Acid from Moroccan phosphate, and 1 fertilizer production unit.

   The initiative will help create more direct and indirect 5000 jobs in Gabon and Morocco.

   An Agreement protocol of 9 months, signed between Morocco and Gabon parties, will launch the required studies to start the project.

   The partnership agreement was signed by, on the Moroccan side, by Moulay Hafid Alamy, Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy, Abdelkader Aamara, Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment, and Mostafa Terrab CEO of OCP, and on the Gabonese side, by Régis Immongault Tatagani, Minister of Mines, Industry and Tourism, Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou, Minister of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons, and Fabrice Nze-Bekale, CEO of Equatorial Mining Company.