According to Meriem Shuqrib, the head of the Moroccan Employers’ Council, Mali which is hopefully backing to stability needs economic reforms that interest international investors.

“Like Morocco, the Malian economy’s performance is based on agriculture. The Moroccan private sector that has 40 years of experience can take part to those reforms,” she said.

Mali’s first private investors from Morocco came in 1989 under the dictatorial regime of General Moussa Traore, two years before the country’s transition towards democracy. Since that date, the economic relationship between the two countries is made of technology transfer, according to Moussa Diallo, the head of Malian Banks Association.

Fighting poverty and creating job opportunities for Malian youngsters are among the priorities of the Moroccan banks that contribute to finance local economy. Authman Benjalloun, the Moroccan banks’ representative, said 53 percent of Malian banks are owned by investors from his country and the opportunities for expansion exist.

The threat of religious violence is yet a challenge for Malian authorities who are also relying on Moroccan tolerance-based Muslim tradition of Malekism, hoping to put an end to the progress of radical Islam militancy in Mali.

“Mali is sharing centuries of common Islamic history based on non-violence that authorities want to preserve. About 500 Malian Imams are learning in Morocco how to preach without violence,” said Tierno Thiam, a Malian Muslim preacher.

Historical links have existed between the two countries since the early moments of Islamic expansion in Africa. According to Thiam, many families of the fabulous city of Timbuktu in the North of Mali are Morocco Arabs’ offspring.