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FOM Newsletter April
2001
Morocco Week in Review
April 7, 2001
US congress
delegation visits Morocco.
Dams Filled to 59%
of Capacity.
102
cas de fièvre paratyphoïde dans le nord du pays.
Some
$ 12.63 million collected during third solidarity campaign, audit firm confirms.
Electronic
sector in Morocco counts about 20 enterprises, $ 89.8 million in sales.
Electronic
Sector in Morocco Counts About 20 Enterprises, $ 89.8 million in Turnover .
Saudi
fund contributes to low-cost housing projects in Morocco.
Flowers
Exports Earned Morocco $ 7.2 million in 2000.
ADB
approves $ 100 million loan to finance development of communication infrastructure
in Morocco.
Moroccan
human rights association insists fighting impunity is business of all.
US congress delegation visits Morocco.
Culture, 4/5/2001
A US congress delegation, comprising 12 members, will visit Morocco this April 7-14 at the initiative of the American committee to support the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The visit means to inquire about Morocco's population actions and identify urgent needs in terms of women health services, illiteracy and women promotion, says a statement of the UN information center in Morocco. The US congress delegation, accompanied by members of NGOS supporting the UNFPA, will hold meetings with the health minister and the minister in charge of women condition. It will also visit southern regions and visit lasting human development projects.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010405/2001040527.html
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Dams Filled to 59% of Capacity.
RABAT- The volume of water stored in Moroccan dams for farming usage has reached 7.3 billion cubic meters up to last March 23, representing 59% of the dams total capacity. The ministry of agriculture, rural development, water and forests says this year's level is higher that the volume recorded last year when dams were filled to 41% of their capacity.
http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm
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102 cas de fièvre paratyphoïde dans le nord du pays.
Panafrican News Agency March 31, 2001
Rabat, Maroc
Quelque 102 personnes ont été atteintes de fièvre paratyphoïde à la suite de la consommation d'une eau polluée dans une localité dans le nord du Maroc, a-t-on appris samedi à Rabat auprès du ministère marocain de la Santé. Les contaminations ont été enregistrées entre le 20 et le 29 mars et les investigations menées par les services d'épidémiologie dudit ministère ont révélé que les victimes consommaient une eau polluée provenant d'une source d'eau non protégée. L'ensemble des habitants de la localité ont subi des examens médicaux. Quatre ont été hospitalisés en raison de leur état de santé qui exige une prise en charge dans un milieu hospitalier, a ajouté la même source.
Les autres malades dépistés ont été tous traités à domicile et leur état de santé ne présente aucune inquiétude, a indiqué le ministère qui assure que "la situation est bien maîtrisée".
http://allafrica.com/stories/200104010103.html
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Some $ 12.63 million collected during third solidarity campaign, audit firm confirms.
Culture, 4/6/2001
The international audit firm KPMG has audited the unfolding of the third national solidarity campaign, staged in November 2000 (1-15) and announced that the amounts (funds in cash and other donations) collected up to February 28, 2001, amount to 139,008,480 DH (about $12.63 million) The audit report, released Wednesday by the governing board of the Mohammed V solidarity foundation, which sponsored the campaign, said the funds in cash amount to 117,603,480 DH (about $ 10.69 Million). The other forms of donations pledged by various enterprises and assessed at 21,405,000 DH ($1.94 million) were not yet totally received by the foundation by February 28, 2001, the report said. The national solidarity campaigns have been regularly staged every year since 1998 to collect funds and other donations to support poorest layers of the Moroccan population. The funds come from the sale of pins and stamps, cash donations by citizens, institutions and enterprises. Other donations consist of clothes, foodstuffs, and any other material or equipment likely to improve living conditions in orphanages and shelters for the poor. The funds collected are used to construct dorms for rural girls, dorms for male students, centers for handicapped persons, orphans and aged persons and finance projects to the benefit of rural women. They also finance the fast-breaking meals distributed during the fasting month of Ramadan to needy persons, and other social projects.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010406/2001040615.html
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Electronic sector in Morocco counts about 20 enterprises, $ 89.8 million in sales.
Economics, 4/6/2001
The electronic sector in Morocco is represented by some 20 enterprises employing 5,192 persons and yielding a turnover of 988 million DH ($ 89.8 million). Exports of electronic products were worth 739 million DH ($67,1 million) in 1999, yielding 484 million DH ($ 44 million) in added value. Investments in the sector reached 112 million DH in 1999 ($ 10.1 million). 69% of electronic firms are settled in the region of Casablanca, and 15 % in the northern region (Tangiers and Tetuan). The sector offers promising perspectives, mainly as regards sub-contracting and partnership opportunities, due to good production costs and other advantages granted by the Hassan II Fund for economic and social development which pays 50% of the price of plots of land and 30 % of the price of offices. Thanks to these perks, Morocco was chosen by several international firms, such as STMicroelectronics, Aerospatiale, Valtronis, Delphi, Yazaki and Wolkswagen. Likewise, Boeing has recently decided to set up with Moroccan air carrier (RAM) a plant for the production of electronic components for Boeing planes. The sector production and exports grew by 58% between 1995 and 1999.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010406/2001040620.html
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Electronic Sector in Morocco Counts About 20 Enterprises, $ 89.8 million in Turnover .
RABAT- The electronic sector in Morocco is represented by some 20 enterprises employing 5,192 persons and yielding a turnover of 988 million DH ($ 89.8 million). Exports of electronic products were worth 739 million DH ($67,1 million) in 1999, yielding 484 million DH ($ 44 million) in added value. Investments in the sector reached 112 million DH in 1999 ($ 10.1 million).
http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm
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Saudi fund contributes to low-cost housing projects in Morocco.
The loan, at a preferential interest rate of 3%, will be repaid over 20 years. The amount will cover 73% of the cost of basic infrastructure of two housing projects in Selouane in the north-eastern city of Nador and in Ain Aouda in the region of Rabat. The Selouane project, extending over 220 hectares, provides for the construction of some 10,000 houses, while some 3000 plots of lands will be promoted part of the Ain Aouda project covering 86 hectares. The construction works, to last four years, are to be launched in the course of 2001. The loan agreement was signed in Rabat Monday by the Fund vice-president, Abdulaziz Ben Mohamed Al-Turki, and Moroccan minister of economy, finance, privatization and tourism, Fathallah Oualalou. The Fund executive also met Moroccan minister of equipment, Bouamour Taghouane, and voiced his institution's willingness to co-finance water projects in Morocco, mainly a water facility to supply water to the Atlantic city of Safi and the chemical industries it hosts. The Saudi Development Fund has so far extended Morocco 11 loans worth 872 million SR (about 2.18 billion DH or $ 198.36 million).
http://www.africaonline.com/2001/search/ItemViewer.po?itemID=1510&langID=0
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Flowers Exports Earned Morocco $ 7.2 million in 2000.
RABAT- Morocco exported 2,132 tons of flowers and flower buds in 2000 for a value of 79.31 million DH ($ 7.2 million), which is a 0.6% decline in terms of quantity and a 5.7% drop in value.
The German market soaked until last July 67% of Moroccan flowers, advancing France which took 9%, Switzerland (8%) and North America (5%). Meanwhile, flower-growing areas, for the 1999-2000 season, extended over more than 230 hectares, including 188 hectares of greenhouses. Production reached 111.4 million stems, compared to 139 million in the previous farming season.
http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm
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ADB approves $ 100 million loan to finance development of communication infrastructure in Morocco.
Economics, 4/6/2001
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (ADB) approved on Wednesday a loan of $ 100 million to finance the Information Infrastructure Sector Development Program (IISDP) in Morocco. The objective of the program, which is co-financed by the World Bank, is to increase the sector's contribution to the country's economic growth, raise competitiveness of Moroccan enterprises and reduce the social disparities, says the Abidjan-based bank in a statement. It specifically seeks to provide greater access to the sector services through the lowering of user communication costs and greater availability of services. It will further help to strengthen and make more effective the regulatory framework for telecommunications, modify the institutional and legal framework for the postal sector. The program will also involve the adoption of a plan for the liberalization of the postal services as well as the identification of new postal products. It is also designed to contribute to extend postal and telecommunications networks in rural and under privileged areas. The ADB loan will support the Government in consolidating and strengthening the outputs and results of the first train of reforms of the posts, telecommunication and information technology co-financed by the ADB and the World Bank in 1998, by implementing a series of complementary measures and reforms to carry out sustained development of the sector and maximize its social impact. ADB Group operations in Morocco started in 1970. To date, financial commitments reached $ 2.93 billion on 68 operations. Of this amount, about US$ 2.47 billion have been disbursed, the statement says.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010406/2001040613.html
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Moroccan human rights association insists fighting impunity is business of all.
Culture, 4/2/2001
The Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH), which held its 6th congress from March 30 through April 1, insisted in its final statement impunity is the business of all democratic forces if a genuine democracy and rule of the law is to be established in Morocco. The association, which labeled its congress "ending impunity of political and economic crimes, prerequisites of democracy and development," said in order to achieve this goal, all human rights and democratic movement components should unify actions and coordinate efforts. The association also deplored the degradation of the situation of expatriates and the upsurge of racist acts in host countries, calling authorities to take actions with host countries to shield immigrants against all forms of discrimination and renounce moves harming their rights. The association members also argued that the phenomenon of illegal immigration cannot be ended unless a comprehensive development is achieved, jobs created and conditions of a decent life are gathered. The AMDH also noted frequent violations of children rights, mainly the respect of the minimum working age and Morocco's reserves to article 14 of the universal convention of children rights. Of the situation of women in Morocco, they deplored the handling by some circles of this issue, calling for the re-activation of the national plan for the economic and social integration of women and the lifting of Morocco's reserves to the convention on the struggle of all forms of discrimination against women. The association elected Amine Abdelhamid, a farming engineer, as its new chairman in replacement of Abderrahmane Benameur who did not run for another term.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010402/2001040219.html
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