FOM Newsletter October 2002
Morocco Week in Review October 26 2002 

RABAT, 20 October - Economic developments of Morocco have been quite positive given the challenging global economy.  During 2002, the Moroccan government is extending 800 million Morocca dirhams, nearly $80 million, to be used for increasing animal production, developing farming land and purchasing agriculture equipment. The Exchange Office in Rabat announced last month, an increase in Moroccan exports by 11.5 percent during the first half of 2002 reaching 43.52 billion dirhams ($4.3 million) compared with 39.03 million dirhams ($3.9 million) during the same period of 2001, while imports decreased by 2.5 percent in the same period. This rise helped relieve the deficit of the Moroccan trade balance, which came down to 17.83 billion dirhams ($1.7 million) by the end of June 2002, in comparison with 23.88 billion dirhams ($2.3 billion) at the end of the first half of last year. Morocco's energy imports bill also went down by 14.5 percent with 9.34 billion dirhams ($0.93 billion) during the first half of 2002, compared to 10.92 billion dirhams ($1.09) during the same period of last year.

In a report released in June by the African Development Bank, Morocco, with an estimated GDP of $34 billion, ranks as Africa's fifth largest economic power, accounting for 6.2 percent of the continent's total GDP. Last year, Morocco received $3 billion in foreign Investments, representing 60 percent of the total foreign capital flow to the North African region. Morocco hopes to lure $2.5 billion worth of foreign capital by the end of 2002, half of which will come from selling off several government owned companies.

Despite all this progress, one Moroccan out of five lives in poverty, the Center of Demographic Studies and Researches (CERD) said in its 2001 National Report on Population Policy. In 1990 poverty rose from 13.1 percent to 19 percent in 1999, the report said, adding that the rise is due to several factors such as the repeated and successive years of drought and the higher unemployment rates during the nineties.  The rural population, which makes up to 46.6 percent of the overall population, represents 65.80 percent of the poor, the report said. Moroccan government raises great hope in the free trade accord with the United States, which probably will be signed early next year. Morocco will be the fifth developing country and the second Arab state, after Jordan, to sign such an agreement with the United States. The main advantage of the agreement for Morocco is the diversification of its outlets and markets. It is worth mentioning that trade between Morocco and US grew by 60 percent during the first half of 2002. By Mohamed Taif, Special to Arab News

Rabat, Oct.24 - Morocco has adopted a new method to process hospital waste by grinding and sterilizing it with steam.  "The new hospital waste treatment method is more efficient and more reliable than incineration which represents considerable hazards for citizens and environment alike", announced Wednesday a group of experts taking part in a conference on the subject.  The efficiency of this method was confirmed by the supervisors of waste treatment sites in Fez, Kenitra (40 km north of Rabat) and Tetuan (northern Morocco), where the first grinding machines were installed. The new processing method of medical waste, they explained, goes through several stages before and after the grinding: waste selection, conditioning, stocking according to the nature of risks involved, be them psychological, physical, chemical, or microbiological and processing before evacuation.

RABAT, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted Morocco's state power utility ONE a 120 million euros ($117.1 million) loan for an electric power project. The project includes a one-fold increase in the transmission capacity of power interconnectors between Morocco and its neighbours, Spain and Algeria, complementing EIB's operation in support of the first interconnection between Morocco and Spain in 1995, the bank said in a statement. The project, which also aims at making the existing domestic network more secure and reliable, will be co-financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the French Development Agency (AFD). EIB said that the project promoted by ONE would facilitate regional cooperation and integration in the energy sector while increasing the volume of power exchanges between the Maghreb countries and Europe. "By improving the reliability of the national network and expanding the capacity of an existing trans-European network, the project should in the long run assist the liberalisation of the local electricity market," it added.  EIB has granted Morocco a total of 2.0 billion euros to finance key projects of the local economy, such as the EU-Morocco power grid interconnection via the Strait of Gibraltar. Morocco, along 11 other Mediterranean countries, is a partner of the European Union. 

((Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499,

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A group of American economic operators from Florida, currently on a visit to Morocco, voiced on Monday "resolve" to boost business ties between Morocco and the US. Speaking at a press briefing, Arthur Teel who led the 17 member delegation, said the mission wants Moroccan officials to open a general consulate in Miami, and the carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) to set up a Morocco-Florida flight. The delegation also calls for cooperation between Casablanca and Miami ports and promotion of exchanges between Morocco and Florida. An agreement of partnership and cooperation will be signed shortly between Casablanca and Miami ports, Teel said, adding that the agreement will be generalized to all the ports of the kingdom to enhance exchange of experiences. Arthur Teel stressed that Miami port is an obligatory passageway to the Caribbean and Latin America. Head of the US delegation said Morocco-US economic ties will be boosted by the free trade agreement, lauding the kingdom's ongoing economic reforms.

MARRAKESH, Oct.24 - H.R.H. Princess Lalla Meryem, chairwoman of the Moroccan observatory of children rights and UNESCO goodwill ambassador, launched on Wednesday the annual nationwide immunization campaign in a small village in the central region of El-Haouz. H.R.H. the princess was accompanied by other UNESCO goodwill ambassador who are taking part in Euro-Mediterranean conference on children rights and human security held in Marrakesh this Oct. 22-24. H.R.H. the princess heard explanations on the Moroccan strategy to control vitamin deficiencies, mainly through vitamin supplements for children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and awareness to the need to eat food containing iron and iodine. According to a health ministry survey, 45% of pregnant women, 35% of children aged between 6 months and 5 years and 31% of women in procreating age suffer from iron deficiency, while 22% of children aged between 6 and 12 years are affected by vitamin A deficiency.

The Rabat-based Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) is holding in Rabat this Oct.29th through November 1st an international conference to probe children issues from an Islamic perspective. The conference aims to examine the situation of children in the Islamic world, promote a better awareness of children rights and help trigger an exchange of know-how and experiences necessary to any approach geared to address children problems in their cultural, health, social, media and legal dimensions, an ISESCO communique says. Researchers and academicians from the Arab-Islamic world will also examine issues related to the psychological and cultural making of the Muslim child, media role in promoting children culture, and to children rights in Islam. ISESCO, an affiliate of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is co-organizing the event with the World Institute of Islamic Thought, the International Association of Islamic Call and the Moroccan national commission for education.

A Brazilian cultural center opened in Rabat on Tuesday, launching its activities with a musical soiree featuring a Moroccan band and the famous Brazilian guitar player, Euclides Mattos. The Brazilian ambassador to Rabat, Lauro Barbosa de Silva Moreira, told MAP that "opening a Brazilian cultural center in the Moroccan capital aims to better acquaint Moroccans with Brazilians civilisation and promote mutual knowledge between Moroccans and Brazilians." The center will be holding every Tuesday a typical Brazilian event to promote Brazil cultural heritage, said the diplomat, insisting that the aim of such initiative is establish dialogue between the two civilisations.The activities feature movies screening, music shows, conferences and plastic arts expos.

RABAT, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Moroccan surgeons have relieved a 75-year-old woman of what she thought was a long-standing tumour but turned out to be the remains of a 46-year-old foetus, Moroccan newspapers said on Thursday. The woman had complained of abdominal pains, so she underwent surgery in July by a team led by Professor Taibi Ouazzani in Rabat's Avicennes hospital, the newspapers Al Ahdath al-Maghribia and L'Opinion said. How the team determined how long the woman had carried the foetus was not disclosed, and officials at Avicennes were not immediately available for comment. Ouazzani's team plans to show a video about the surgery at a news conference on Friday. ((Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, 

rabat.newsroom@reuters.com))

French Vivendi Environment Takes Over Water, Electricity and Sanitation Concession in Rabat

RABAT, Oct.25 - French "Vivendi Environnement" officially took over on Wednesday the concession contract for water, wastewater and electricity services for Rabat-sale in Morocco, after it has bought over Redal, a Spanish-Portuguese company which held the concession Redal had won in 1999 a contract for municipal water, wastewater and electricity services in the region of Rabat-Salé. Under a protocol agreement between Vivendi Environnement and the Rabat authorities, VE which also delivers drinking water, wastewater and electricity services to Tangiers and Tetuan undertakes to secure the continuity of the services. Redal share-holders, Portuguese Pleiade DP and EDP (29% each), Spanish Urbazur (29%) and Moroccan Alborada (13%), asked last March for the authorization to cede all their concern to the French group. The Rabat authorities approved in October the 100% takeover of Redal. The original 30-year contract includes an investment program, principally to improve the quality of services provided to the customer and extend the networks to cover the whole population. VE is a leading provider of water and wastewater services for municipal authorities, industrial companies and consumers. The company provides a wide range of outsourcing and design-build services, as well as equipment andsystems. With operations in more than 100 countries, Vivendi Water serves over 110 million consumers and 40,000 industrial customers worldwide. It has revenues of 13.6 billion euros for 2001 and 72,600 employees.

MARRAKESH, Oct.23 - UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura awarded on Tuesday UNESCO's medal to H.R.H. Princess Lalla Meryem, a UNESCO good will ambassador and chairwoman of the National Observatory for Children Rights (ONDE).  H.R.H. the princess was awarded the UNESCO distinction during the opening ceremony of a conference on "Children's rights and human security in the Euro-Mediterranean region". H.R.H. the princess who chaired the session also read out a message by king Mohammed VI to the conference. At the end of the opening ceremony, H.R.H. Princess Lalla Meryem and the UNESCO chief co-chaired a meeting with UNESCO's good will ambassadors on the organization's efforts to better world children's situation. The three-day conference is organized in collaboration with the UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF, ILO, UNFPA, UNAIDS and several regional institutions.

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