Philip Grinin took part in the educational event on the eve of GITEX AFRICA 2025
On April 7, 2025, Philip Grinin, an expert at the HSE Centre for African Studies, participated in the online consultation for Russian companies planning to attend GITEX AFRICA 2025, a tech innovation exhibition, which will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on April 14-16, 2025. As a member of the Centre's delegation, Philip Grinin presented on the features of business negotiations with Moroccan partners.
“For Moroccans, it's more important to get to know a partner as a person than to straightly discuss the deal. This may seem unusual to us, because here in Moscow, in this fast-moving city, we are used to making deals as quickly as possible. However, regarding cooperation with Morocco, without the trust-building stage, further cooperation may be completely fruitless.”
“In negotiations with Morocco, goodwill, politeness, and attention to details are important. What you definitely should avoid is being aggressive, assertive, and straightforward,” the expert concluded.
Among the other participants of the event were the members of the Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in Morocco and the Moscow Export Center, Africanists, and businessmen interested in developing Russian-Moroccan trade relations.
Grinin pointed out that Morocco is a country with a unique business culture that is interesting to Russia not only in terms of its geographical location. In recent years, several sectors of the country's economy have received a powerful impetus to development: we can see that ICT, logistics, and renewable energy sectors are rapidly developing.
Describing the negotiations with Moroccan partners, the speaker noted that personal relationships rather than formalities play a major role in strengthening business contacts.
As for the upcoming GITEX AFRICA 2025 exhibition, Grinin stressed that English proficiency is very important: “There are two official languages in Morocco - French and Arabic. However, since GITEX is an IT-related event, negotiations will be conducted mainly in English, so Russian companies should make sure that all handouts - brochures, books, and business cards - are translated into English.”