The Oriental, which covers 82,820 km², constitutes 11.6% of the national territory. Located in the east of the country, it is bordered by the Mediterranean to the north and by Algeria to the east. Starting from an off-centre and border position, which contributed to its economic and social lag compared to the vital hubs of the country, could the region's potential and the new generation of major projects launched allow it to overcome the handicap of marginality and succeed in its integration into the national economic space? This is the question posed to the geographer researcher, Abdelkader Guitouni, a native of Oujda who defended his State doctoral thesis with Jean François Troin. Author of the book "The Moroccan North-East: reality and potential of an off-centre region", he is the co-author of numerous works and will soon publish a book on the lexicons of the region. He was awarded the Grand Atlas Prize in 2006.

First of all, there is the weight of history. Having constituted in the past a no man's land disputed between the kingdoms of Fez and Tlemcen, and then since the 16th century between the Sharifian dynasties of Morocco and the Turks of Algiers, the Oriental lived during the colonial period (1912-1956) on the margins of "useful Morocco" and turned towards Algeria via the appropriation of land by settlers from Western Algeria, strong Algerian immigration, and commercial exchanges with the Oran region through the port of Ghazaouet, the region's outlet. With decolonisation, the region found itself in a position too far from the vital economic hubs and national command centres (Casablanca and Rabat).

The aridity of the climate, a dominant feature of the physical framework, is a limiting factor for agricultural and hydraulic capabilities. Outside the irrigated perimeters of the Lower Moulouya plains, fertile soils and agricultural spaces are rare and cramped. The dominant agriculture based on dry cereal farming aims to produce mainly for food self-sufficiency and is subject to the vagaries of the climate with frequent droughts. The water deficit is all the more worrying as there is fierce competition for water between irrigation, urban consumption, and industry.

With also the closure of the manganese deposits of Bouarfa in 1967, the lead and zinc deposits of Boubker and Touissit in 1969 and 2002 respectively, the iron deposits of Ouichane (Beni Bou Ifrour) in 1997, and the anthracite deposits of Jerada in 2001. Apart from two industrial units of national interest, namely the SONASID rolling mill in Laroui and the HOLCIM cement plant in El Aïoun, the industrial fabric of the Oriental presented a low employment capacity and was limited to small industries in urban environments in the "industrial zones" of Oujda, Nador, and Berkane.

As for the Mediterranean coastline, extending over more than 200 km, from the mouth of the Nekor in the west to that of the Kiss in the east, it is under-exploited for fishing and seaside tourism. Nador and Saïdia represent almost the only port and seaside outlets of the Oriental on the Mediterranean. Finally, the region's economy, particularly in urban areas, was characterised by the proliferation of an informal sector grouping small trades and survival businesses, and by the proliferation of smuggling, a component of the region's economy, omnipresent in the cities. This is practised on two fronts: on the north side with the Spanish enclave of Melilla and on the east side with Algeria.

The Oriental is indeed the primary source of departure from Morocco towards Europe. From the end of the 19th century until the 1960s, a migratory flow of agricultural labour existed towards neighbouring Oran. With the independence of Algeria, the flow of emigration reoriented towards Western Europe (France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands) and intensified until the mid-1970s. Following the effects of the economic crisis of 1974-75, European states adopted measures to curb foreign immigration (locking borders, introducing visas...). Faced with these restrictions, emigration took on new aspects: family reunification, search for new outlets (Spain, Italy...), clandestine emigration. Thanks to the monetary transfers of MREs (Moroccans living abroad), the Oriental is an important financial centre. However, the capital deposited in the cities of the region, particularly in Nador and Oujda, is under-utilised and does not fully contribute to financing productive investments.

With a well-developed administrative apparatus, the regional capital of the wilaya, regional delegations of ministries, liberal professions... the Oriental indeed constitutes a tertiary hub. There remains one point that cannot be avoided, that of the high number of bank branches, which went from about thirty in 1995 to 75 in 2011. This progression is linked to the function of a refuge for the capital of MREs originating from the city. In 2009, the Oriental received nearly a quarter of the MRE transfers made to Morocco (11.5 billion DH out of a total of 50). But out of 9.3 billion DH deposited in the banks of Oujda and the Oriental, only 2.7 billion, or 28%, are mobilised locally; the rest, 72%, is invested in the West and in Casablanca. The credit-to-deposit ratio, the lowest in Morocco (28%), means that the bank deposits of the Oriental finance the development of other regions.

Due to its geographical and border position, the Oriental had to benefit from a special effort by the State in terms of investment. It was up to the State to drive the development of the region through the implementation of heavy equipment projects of national interest. These, which must constitute fundamental actions whose benefits will be felt in the long and medium term, are capable of producing a ripple effect for other socio-economic sectors. These are in particular projects already completed or underway aimed at opening up the Oriental and improving its road and rail infrastructure: sections of the Tanger-Saïdia Mediterranean bypass road falling within the region's territory, the Fez-Oujda motorway, the Oujda-Nador expressway, the Taourirt-Nador railway line, and the doubling and electrification of the Fez-Oujda railway axis. Oujda is the type of city that created its region and wove a network of relays in its zone of influence thanks to its situation as a border crossroads and its urban past. It stands at the head of a regional urban network due to its position at the intersection of communication routes. It is at once a road junction, a large marshalling yard at the intersection of the Fez-Oran and Bouarfa-Ghazaouet railway axes, and an international airport with traffic linked to the return of MREs from European countries in summer. Regarding development projects, we must mention the latest project inaugurated by His Majesty the King, near Oujda airport, namely the technopole, a major project aiming, through the establishment of high-tech companies, to create jobs and attract investment. A project that has one of the most favourable environments, particularly in terms of higher education schools. With seven university education establishments (four faculties and three higher schools: EST, ENSA, ENCG), Oujda is the fifth university city in Morocco by the number of students (32,000 in 2012), whose recruitment area extends to the entire Oriental. There are other projects that will allow the anchoring of the Oriental in its national and regional environment. We have other projects like the Aïn Beni Mathar thermal power plant, ideally located, the Berkane agropole, but also major water supply projects, the creation of professional centres that should trigger a new dynamic.

Through a proactive development policy, the State's contribution can also take several forms: tax relief, settlement of the issue of land systems, and, beyond the investment fund, the creation of an Oriental development fund, like those of certain regions in the world that have caught up on their economic lag. The example of the Italian South, the Mezzogiorno, is instructive in this regard, given the projects carried out thanks to the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, a semi-public body created in 1950 and intended to provide financial and technical aid to the development of the South.

The diversified functions of Oujda have allowed it to polarise a vast territory, although its area of influence is truncated in the east by the layout of the Moroccan-Algerian border. Since the sixties, Oujda has experienced the repetition of the border closing-opening cycle, the impact of which it suffers. Due to political uncertainties in bilateral relations, the main form of exchange that remains between Algeria and Morocco is smuggling, which has become a component of the urban and regional economy. The income from large-scale smuggling, which generates a turnover of several billion dirhams annually, has been used, on both sides, like the money laundering of drug trafficking, to build fortunes. Not being hermetic, the Moroccan-Algerian border is locally crossed, from Algerian territory, by nationals of sub-Saharan Africa of several nationalities (Malians, Nigeriens, Senegalese, Guineans, Burkinabés...) in the hope of reaching Melilla and embarking clandestinely for Spain. During the last few years, the Moroccan Oriental, which was initially a space of passage towards the "European Eldorado", tends to become a fixation zone for "harraga", clandestine emigrants.

The Oriental, a territory of 82,320 km², located in the north-eastern extension of the Kingdom, with a population of nearly 2 million inhabitants, has always, by its history and geography, been a zone of economic and social flows open to its international environment. With its two windows, one facing east towards Algeria, the rest of the Maghreb, and by extension towards sub-Saharan Africa, the second facing the Mediterranean rim.

This geography has shaped the destiny of this border region, which has become very sensitive to the degree of intensity of exchanges with its immediate international environment. Several sectors of the regional economy were built on the basis of border links with, notably, Algeria in the East and Spain in the North (trade and services, road, maritime and rail transport, banks and financial services, etc.). The analysis of the region's economic flows shows, moreover, that the latter has historically been more of a transit region than a region that values its resources locally.

The distance of the region from national decision-making centres has, furthermore, forced the regional economy to remain dependent on border contingencies. In the East, the borders have been more closed than open since independence to this day; a situation that has led the region to remain in a situation of "economic wait-and-see" because of a regional integration of the Maghreb that is always postponed to the "Greek calends".

This economic context, caused by the distance of the region from the centre of the country and the closure of the borders in the east, has pushed the region to orient its flows towards the north of the Mediterranean; in this case, towards Europe. Today, the Oriental has become, through its diaspora and its economic exchanges, one of the regions of the Kingdom most connected with Europe. This is one of the realities still little known at the national and international level.

It is estimated that between 800,000 to 1 million men and women from the Oriental are abroad, essentially in Europe. If we compare this figure to that of the total population of the Oriental, which does not exceed 2 million (according to the 2004 census), we can measure the importance of the human links of the Oriental with the other shore of the Mediterranean.

Statistical estimates relating to the diaspora indicate that 70% of Moroccans residing in Germany are from the Oriental, the same figure is advanced for the Netherlands, 60% in Spain, 50% in Belgium, and 30% in France. Similarly, according to available figures, 25% of the diaspora's financial flows transferred to Morocco (more than 4 billion euros in 2007) are to the Oriental. In terms of import-export, 80% of the income from the region's export products (agricultural and agro-industrial products) is due to exports to European markets. The proximity of a province as important as Nador to the occupied Spanish enclave of Melilla generates significant currents of economic exchange.

While awaiting the construction of the Arab Maghreb, the region has established strong links with Europe, notably through the population of Moroccans residing in European countries (France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, etc.) and originating from the region. The Oriental Agency has fully integrated this reality and takes it into account within the framework of the regional development strategy, notably in its international cooperation component.

By Taoufiq Boudchiche, Director of Cooperation and Promotion at the Oriental Agency