FOM News Roundup 11032001

FOM Newsletter November 2001
Morocco Week in Review
November 3, 2001

Women associations grouped in equality spring unveil proposals for personal law amendment.
Morocco, a promising bound for French contractors, magazine
Morocco's fish exports generate 10 billion dh annually.
Princess Lalla Hasna dedicates new SOS-village near Casablanca.
First international unity rally roams across Morocco October 28-November 5
Moroccan monarch plans wedding celebration.
Sept 11 attacks unworthy of Muslims -Moroccan king.
Teletech to open Nest Call Center in Rabat.

Women associations grouped in equality spring unveil proposals for personal law amendment.

Politics, 10/30/2001

A group of nine women associations, grouped in "the equality spring" unveiled in Casablanca on Monday at a press conference personal law reforms. Introducing the memo, a member of the group surveyed the stages covered in the process since King Mohammed VI received last March a group of leading women figures and set up in April an advisory commission in charge of reforming the personal law. She added that from the outset, the group has opted for collaboration with the commission. Proposals contained in the memo are based on the principle of gender equality in rights, duties and responsibilities, considered as the central axis that should underlie all of the personal law provisions. The group deems that marriage age should be set at 18 years for both men and women and that both men and women should have the right to chose their spouse. Husband and wife are both responsible for caring for family needs and for children education and tutorship. Other proposals also want divorce to be conducted by a judge in the presence of the two spouses and that properties and other assets acquired during marriage should be equally divided in case of divorce, and consider that housework should be considered as a contribution to these properties and assets. The group also requests the unification of custody conditions after divorce and to allow both men and women to get re-married and retain the children custody.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011030/2001103026.html

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Morocco, a promising bound for French contractors, magazine

Economics, 10/29/2001

Morocco is indeed a promising bound for French contractors, as it will constitute by 2002 a market of 40 million consumers that is only at a two-hour flight from Bordeaux, wrote the French magazine Objectif Aquitaine, in its latest issue. The magazine which published a special report on Morocco destined to investors surveyed the performance of Moroccan economy and economic modernization moves initiated by the late King Hassan II and carried on by his successor King Mohammed VI. Underlining Morocco's adherence to the GATT in 1987 and its partnership accord with the European Union as an evidence to its resolved commitment to economic liberalization, the magazine said the country provides a very favorable environment and very interesting business opportunities. It mentioned among other assets Morocco's young population and reliable and receptive labor and said Moroccan-French partnership will promote know-how and technology transfer and help speed up the modernization of Moroccan enterprises. The magazine also surveyed the advantages provided to investors, including the projected creation of a single administration to handle investment requests at each region that will enable investors set up their enterprise or process an investment dossier in 48 hours.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011029/2001102923.html

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Morocco's fish exports generate 10 billion dh annually.

Economics, 10/30/2001

Exports of sea products generate 10 billion DH (US$ 909 million) annually, with a production of one million tons, says Moroccan fisheries minister, Said Chbaatou. The minister told the Moroccan TV channel 2m exports of fresh fish increased this year by 41%, while those of canned fish, fish oil and flour progressed respectively by 14% and 200%. Asked on difficulties to export octopus resulting from a decision to impose a minimum price, he denied the existence of any difficulties and explained that the decision was made in consultation with professionals, part of a development plan meant to preserve this species and guarantee the social promotion of small fishermen. He also insisted the biological rest periods and their effects on the life of fishermen is a choice that applies to everybody for the sake of preserving sea wealth and allowing fish to reproduce. On Monday, the minister announced a budget of 60 million DH (US$ 5.45 million) to modernize the Moroccan fleet.

The official, who met professionals in Tangiers, said the budget will add to the contribution of the National Fisheries office, which will pay half of expenses for the purchase of plastic boxes for fish storage. He explained that these measures are meant to improve the Moroccan product quality, citing also other projects to consolidate ports facilities and organize fish marketing.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011030/2001103022.html

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Princess Lalla Hasna dedicates new SOS-village near Casablanca.

Culture, 10/30/2001

Morocco's Princess Lalla Hasna, sister of King Mohammed VI, dedicated on Monday a new SOS children village at Dar Bouazza (17 km south of Casablanca). President of the SOS-Kinderdorf International (Federation of SOS-villages around the world), Helmut Kutin, was present at the dedication ceremony. The princess heard explanation on projects already carried out or underway by the Moroccan association of SOS-village, set up in 1984. The princess then toured the center facilities, kindergarten, education workshops and a model family home. The center currently hosts 11 family homes, 62 children (including 26 girls) and is scheduled to accommodate 90 children by end 2002. It is the third village of the kind in Morocco. A total of 150 persons are working for these villages, including 35 mothers and 16 taunts and managers-fathers. It was also announced that the construction of a center for handicapped persons, close to the SOS village, started in January 2001. Princess Lalla Hasna distributed honor knight distinctions granted to five mothers bySOS-Kinderdorf International.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011030/2001103023.html

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First international unity rally roams across Morocco October 28-November 5

Sports, 10/30/2001

122 car pilots aboard Jaguars, Mercedes, Austin Healy, Alpine A110, Porsche 356, Triumph-TR3 and other cars, manufactured between 1950 and 1980, are participating in the first international unity rally "North-South Morocco" that kicked off Sunday from the northern city of Tangier. The driving teams from Belgium, France, Switzerland and other countries will cover more than 2,200 km in seven phases across Rabat, Casablanca, Oualidia, Essaouira, Safi, Agadir, Tiznite, Tafraout, Taroudant, Marrakesh, and Afourer before returning to Rabat on November 4, for the prize awarding ceremony. For the organizers, the rally is not a mere sporting event. It is also an opportunity to promote Moroccan tourism. The best pilot is the one respecting the speed limit set at 80 km per hour.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011030/2001103027.html

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Moroccan monarch plans wedding celebration.

PARIS, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Morocco's King Mohammed says there's nothing wrong with celebrating a royal wedding -- even in a country like his where the matrimonial matters of monarchs have never previously been openly discussed. In an interview with Paris Match magazine, the king said he and his commoner bride, Salma Bennani, would marry in the first three months of next year, once their new home was ready. "Normality suits me. It's quite normal to celebrate your marriage," the 38-year-old monarch told the French weekly. "That's the formula we chose together. So we are going to celebrate our marriage like any other couple, in joy and happiness." In a first for Morocco, where matrimonial issues relating to the monarchy have always been off limits, the official MAP news agency announced the couple's wedding plans on October 12. Mohammed said his fiancee was a computer engineer and the daughter of a teacher from the city of Fez. They met a little over two years ago, he said. One tradition will not change. Bennani will not become queen. "There is no queen in Islam, so the question doesn't arise, at least not in Morocco," Mohammed said. King Mohammed succeeded his father Hassan on the latter's death in 1999.

(Paris newsroom +33 1 4221 5339, paris.newsroom@reuters.com) http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=1004469740nL3032073&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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Sept 11 attacks unworthy of Muslims -Moroccan king.

PARIS, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The suicide hijackers who slammed airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon do not have the right to call themselves Muslims, King Mohammed of Morocco was quoted on Tuesday as saying. The monarch, revered as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, told Paris Match magazine in an interview that the September 11 attacks on the United States were the antithesis of Islam and "written in black letters in the history of humanity". "Committing suicide to kill millions of innocents lends an entirely different dimension to this tragedy," the king told the French weekly. "The people who committed these acts do not have the right to say they are Muslims. Islam is life. Suicide is the negation, the antithesis of Islam," he said. Nineteen Islamic militants hijacked four planes in the September 11 attacks, which the United States says were masterminded by Saudi-born, Afghan-based dissident Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. King Mohammed, whose country's constitution designates him as the Islamic Amir al-Mumineen (Commander of the Faithful), voiced strong support in the interview for U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terrorism. However, he said U.S.-led military raids against the ruling Islamic Taliban and Qaeda camps in Afghanistan "had limits". "We cannot ignore...the fact that these images of civilians dying every day aggravate frustrations which feed all sorts of extremism," he said, adding that the international community had to find a rapid way out of the crisis. Morocco is a staunch ally of Washington and was part of the U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War. A survey published in Moroccan daily al-Ahdath al-Maghribia on Monday found 87 percent of Moroccans considered bin Laden "a fighter for Islam".

(Paris newsroom +33 1 4221 5339, paris.newsroom@reuters.com)

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=1004457677nL30193385&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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Teletech to open Nest Call Center in Rabat.

French company Teletech International is preparing to open a client relations call center in Rabat, and is also planning a Dh320 million "high-tech center" at Bouknadel (near Salé) that will specialize in Internet-based training programs. The Nest Call Center in Rabat will create 110 jobs initially, rising to 550 next year, while the high-tech center will generate 1200 positions when it opens its doors in 2003. Teletech is focusing on Morocco, Spain, and Italy in its expansion plans.

http://www.upline.co.ma/

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