Handicraft sector in Morocco employs two million persons.
Morocco to fight ozone layer depletion.
Morocco and UNDP sign two cooperation agreements.
Indepth Arts News: "The Fabric of Moroccan Life" 2002-03-24 until 2002-06-23.
Moroccan ancient town holds music spring.
Morocco's January tourism receipts down 43 pct.
Meeting for free trade zone between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan.
Torrential rains flood several houses in Tantan.
Morocco Plans to Launch Third Generation GSM in September.
Morocco's Phone Operator Counts 3.7 Mln Subscribers to Mobile Phone.
Emirati charity medical mission performs four heart operations in Morocco.
Nearly 74,000 gulf, middle east tourists visited Morocco in 2001.

Handicraft sector in Morocco employs two million persons.

Economics, 4/6/2002

Some two million Moroccans work in handicraft, representing 20 percent of the active population in the country, the handicraft department said. Handicraft contributed US$ 5.77 billion (67 billion dirhams) to Morocco's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2000, i.e. 19 percent. The sector's contribution to the GDP in 2000 was higher than that of agriculture -- a backbone of the Moroccan economyemploying half of a 10-million workforce--, which contributed only 16 percent to the

GDP in the same year. Morocco's handicraft exports stood at US$ 52.58 million (610 million dirhams) in 1999. Foreign tourists paid US$ 379.31 million (4.4 billion dirhams) to buy Moroccan handicraft items, putting the sector's contribution to tourism receipts at 23 percent.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020406/2002040622.html

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Morocco to fight ozone layer depletion.

Environment, 4/5/2002

Morocco will set up a network to collect and recycle substances that deplete the ozone layer and a mechanism of assistance to enterprises in matters of refrigerating appliances storage. The two projects will be financed by the French Development Agency. The related accords were signed here Tuesday between the Moroccan ministry of industry, trade, energy and mining and the Moroccan center for environment friendly production on the one hand and the French Development Agency on the other.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020405/2002040521.html

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Morocco and UNDP sign two cooperation agreements.

Economics, 4/2/2002

Morocco and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) signed in Rabat on Monday two cooperation agreements on support to strategic planning of sustained human development and on struggle against poverty. The first agreement is meant to improve planning and follow-up approaches and techniques and consolidate capacities of planning departments through the participation of communities, transparency follow up and assessment of development projects. The second agreement, dealing with the struggle against poverty, is the second phase of the UNDP program in Morocco. It was crafted on the basis of results achieved by the first phase which carried out development projects for poor populations in four Moroccan provinces. The two agreements were initialed by minister of economic forecasts and planning, Abdelhamid Aouad, and the UNDP permanent representative and coordinator of the U.N. system in Morocco, Bouna Semou Diouf.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020402/2002040223.html

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Indepth Arts News: "The Fabric of Moroccan Life" 2002-03-24 until 2002-06-23.

Indianapolis Museum of Art/ Indianapolis, IN, USA

Bright colors and lively geometric and floral designs dominate more than 150 magnificent embroideries, hangings and rugs featured in The Fabric of Moroccan Life, which is the largest exhibition of Moroccan art ever presented in the United States. These anonymous masterworks, which are part of a long oral tradition that has been passed down through generations of Moroccan women, are distinct and varied in their color, design and technique. Authentic Moroccan jewelry and costumes enhance the presentation of this collection that is as diverse as the north African nation's landscape and culture: from snow-peaked mountains to arid deserts, and timeless villages to modern cities. The exhibition explores the artistic importance of these handcrafted rugs and textiles as they relate to the traditional lives of Moroccan people. Drawn entirely from the IMA's permanent collection, most of these one-of-a-kind works of art have never been exhibited. The majority of works in the exhibition were acquired by Admiral Albert P. Niblack, an Indiana native and officer of the U.S. Navy, while he was stationed in Gibraltar in 1917. His vast collection of embroideries and weavings was passed on to his sisters and was bequeathed to the IMA by the Niblack family in 1933.

http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2002/04/01/29781.html

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Moroccan ancient town holds music spring.

Local, 4/6/2002

Essaouira, a Moroccan ancient city on the Atlantic ocean, will hold the second edition of its music spring, Music Spring of Aliz?s, April 18-21. The festival, whose first edition won a frank success, seeks to make of culture a vector for the development of the town of Essaouira, says André Azoulay, Royal Advisor and head of the Aliz?s Foundation. "Essaouira made the choice to develop through culture (É) this is not a sheer aesthetic procedure, but rather a machine of development," Azoulay told the press in Rabat."The festivals held in Essaouira create wealth," he insisted. Essaouira, or Mogador, is also famed for its Gnawa music festival, which drains hundreds of visitors from Morocco and from abroad. The second edition of the Music Spring of Aliz?s will be held at a budget of 800,000 Moroccan Dirhams (1 $US is 11.6 Dirhams). World-famed artists, including US composer Hartway and Marie-Christie Barrault will participate in the festival. Hartway will present a premiere of his work "Image of Mogador."

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020406/2002040629.html

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Morocco's January tourism receipts down 43 pct.

(Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com)

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=1017664437nL01342507&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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Meeting for free trade zone between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan.

Economics, 3/30/2002

A group of experts in charge of drafting an agreement for a free-trade zone agreement between Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan held a third session this March 27-28 in Tunis. According to the Moroccan delegation, the group, which will hold another session in Morocco, has almost finalized the free trade zone agreement between the four states. The session looked into trade liberalization, taking into account separate agreements binding each of the four states to the European Union, bilateral free-trade agreements and the free trade area agreement signed by 15 Arab countries. Foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia signed last May in Agadir

(Morocco), in the presence of King Mohammed VI a Declaration, setting up a free trade zone between the four states and agreed to leave the door open for other Arab states to join in.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020330/2002033038.html

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Torrential rains flood several houses in Tantan.

Local, 4/2/2002

Heavy rains caused floods that washed over several houses in the Southern city of Tantan Saturday. Firemen and voluntary citizens intervened in the most-severely affected zones to save the families' property. Roads linking Tantan to Guelmim and Smara were cut by overflowing rivers.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020402/2002040229.html

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Morocco Plans to Launch Third Generation GSM in September.

Economics, 4/3/2002

Morocco said Tuesday it wishes to launch next September, in a world premiere, a network of third generation GSM. The announcement was made by Moroccan secretary of state in charge of post and

information and communication technologies, Nasr Hajji, at the opening of an international telecom fair (Telecom Maroc 2002). The network will be launched at the plenipotentiary conference of the International Telecommunications Union, to be held September 23 through October 18 in Marrakesh.

The innovation which helps get images on the GSM is so far used only in Monaco and by a score of people, Hajji said.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020403/2002040322.html

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Morocco's Phone Operator Counts 3.7 Mln Subscribers to Mobile Phone.

Economics, 4/3/2002

Maroc-Telecom, Morocco's phone operator, said it counted 3.7 million subscribers to the mobile phone in 2001, capturing 71 percent of the market, Abdeslam Ahizoune, Maroc-Telecom President, said. The company lost 200,000 fixed phone subscribers in 2000 and 2001, Ahizoune said in an interview with L'Economiste daily. Meditel, a private mobile phone operator in Morocco, has 1.7 million clients and currently accounts for 38 percent of the Moroccan market, Meditel director-general, Ramon Enciso, told the same daily.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020403/2002040319.html

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Emirati charity medical mission performs four heart operations in Morocco.

Culture, 4/3/2002

A medical team of the Emirati "International Humanitarian Heart Group " is performing free surgical operations at Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rabat on four destitute heart sufferers. The operations, worth $10,000 to 15,000 each, will be performed by a medical team made up of 15 doctors of different nationalities. Morocco is the second country, after Egypt, to benefit from this operation launched by the Emirati Red Crescent. The International Humanitarian Group for the Heart set up a mission to improve its cardiovascular services and its staff's capacity through training programs. The program of the mission includes conferences, training sessions, medical apparatus donations to hospitals, expertise trading and cooperation with universities worldwide.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020403/2002040337.html

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Nearly 74,000 gulf, middle east tourists visited Morocco in 2001.

Economics, 4/5/2002

Nearly 74,000 tourists from the Gulf and the Middle East visited Morocco in 2001, the Moroccan Tourism Office said. Saudis come on top of the list with 33,000 visitors, the source said, adding that one Arab tourist spends as much as 15 European tourists do.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020405/2002040530.html

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