Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
December 25 2004

US ambassador "not satisfied" with volume of US investments in Morocco.
Morocco accounts for about 29.9 million inhabitants
Drop in fertility behind decrease of demographic growth in Morocco (census)
Child glue sniffing rises in Morocco.
Compulsory Health Insurance Getting ready for 2006
Over US$ 550 million extended in micro-funds in Jan-Sept 2004
Mohammed V solidarity foundation collects 170 million MAD in 2004.
ADB Supports Public Administration Reform in Morocco
Education workshop in Marrakech.
2004 Census: Is thirty million enough?
Morocco population growth slows, brings challenges.
Morocco airs testimony on torture.
Morocco to modernize its refineries.
Morocco needs to open up on nuclear technologies, minister

US ambassador "not satisfied" with volume of US investments in Morocco.
Rabat, Dec. 20

US ambassador to the Morocco, Thomas Riley, said he is not satisfied with the volume of US private investments in Morocco. The diplomat said in an interview with the Moroccan daily "Al Alam" the number of projects launched by American investors in Morocco hardly exceeds one hundred, notably operating in textile and clothing. Riley said the presence of American operators in Morocco is weak compared to the favourable climate of investments in the country. He voiced, nevertheless, conviction that the free trade agreement signed between the two countries last June would contribute to boosting investments.

He explained that, in parallel with the signing of the accord, the U.S. has taken initiatives to acquaint financial and industrial circles in the United States with Morocco. He cited as an example the action undertaken by the US trade Chamber in Morocco that elaborated a detailed guide on social, economic, judicial data related to investment in the north African country.

The US-Morocco FTA will eliminate tariffs on more than 95 percent of bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products. All remaining tariffs on these goods are to be eliminated within nine years. The agreement also significantly reduces barriers to agricultural products and services.

The agreement crowns a series of similar deals which Morocco has signed with some Arab countries and Turkey.

In 2003, US domestic merchandise exports to Morocco were valued at $462 million, while US imports for consumption from Morocco were estimated at$396 million. The US recorded a $66 million surplus with Morocco in 2003, as Morocco ranked as the 69th largest market for US exports and the 82nd larger supplier of imports.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/spor3005.htm 
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Morocco accounts for about 29.9 million inhabitants.
Rabat, Dec. 22

The population in Morocco has reached 29.891.708 inhabitants, including 29.840.273 Moroccans and 51.435 foreigners, that is a
14.6 percent increase compared to 1994, announced on Wednesday the High Commissioner for Planning. According to the first results of the general population census, organized from 2 to 20 September 2004, the Moroccan population is divided into 16.463.634 people living in urban areas, and 13.428.074 in rural zones, i.e. the urbanization rate is estimated at 55.1 percent. The average rate of annual demographic growth is estimated at 1.4pc against 2.1pc between 1982 and 1994, said the same source. Almost the third of the population is concentrated in the region of Casablanca (3.6 millions), Souss-Massa-Draa (3,1 millions), and Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz (3,1 millions). The rest is partitioned in proportions varying between 0.3pc in Oued Eddahab-Lagouira (south) and 8.3pc in Tangier-Tétouan (north).
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h-depmauri.htm 
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Drop in fertility behind decrease of demographic growth in Morocco (census)
Rabat, Dec. 23

The annual average of demographic growth in Morocco has dropped from 2.1pc in 1982 to 1.4pc currently, notably due the decrease in fertility, according to figures released by the High Commissioner for Planning that estimated the Moroccan legal population at nearly 30 million inhabitants.

According to the general census conducted from 2 to 20 September, the population in Morocco has reached 29.891.708, including 29.840.273 Moroccans and 51.435 foreigners. The third of this population is concentrated in three regions: region of Casablanca (3.6 millions inhabitants), Souss-Massa-Draa (south-west) with 3.1 millions and Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz (south) with 3.1 millions.

The High Commissioner for Planning, Ahmed Lahlimi, who announced Wednesday at a press conference the results of the Census of Population and Housing, explained that the "decrease of demographic growth is the result of the drop in fertility during the latest decade." According to Lahlimi, the average of child birth per woman decreased from 3.3 in 1994 to 2.5 in 2002. This tendency, he said, is prevailing both in urban and rural areas. Some regions have experienced negative growth compared to 1994, as it is the case with eastern Morocco (-0.8pc). The Moroccan official also ascribed low fertility to the marriage age for women that rose from an average of 25.8 years in 1994 to 27.4 in 2000. Another factor lies in the increase of women's use of contraceptive methods from 41.5pc to 63pc from 1992 to 2003. Lahlimi said the phenomenon of immigration also contributed to this reality. Urban population, he explained, grew by 2.1pc annually while rural population, despite a bigger fertility rate, rose only by 0.6pc because of rural exodus. Urbanization rate rose from 51.4pc in 1994 to 55.1pc in 2004, he pointed out. According to Lahlimi, the total cost of the general census is estimated at 416.211.308 DH (around US $46.2 million), that is a 15pc decrease compared to 1994.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h_deptolerance.htm 
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Child glue sniffing rises in Morocco.
By Pascale Harter BBC News, Rabat Tuesday, 21 December, 2004

A non-governmental organisation in Morocco says substance abuse among children has reached alarming levels. The Baiti association says 98% of children living on the streets in Morocco are now addicted to sniffing glue and the number is growing. They shine shoes, beg from passers-by or even sell their bodies in return for the $3 they need to buy a tube of glue. According to a government survey, more than 5,000 children are living on the streets of Casablanca alone. Almost all of them are glue addicts.

As poverty and unemployment continue to rise in Morocco, more parents are unable to provide for their children, and more children end up living on the streets. Cheap and easy to get, the children use glue to numb the feelings of cold, hunger and rejection. A United Nations report says glue sniffing is making street children prone to tuberculosis, and they are contracting sexually transmitted diseases as they fall back on prostitution to pay for their habit. Najat M'jid, president of Baiti, Morocco's first and only association for the protection of street children, says the situation is urgent as some street children sniff between five and 20 tubes per day. "We have to work with the street children very, very soon because when they become dependent on glue it's very difficult to build with them a life project," Mr M'jid says. "The impact of the glue on the brain really is a step to marginalisation and delinquency," he says. Baiti is using sport to teach street children about the effects of glue on their lungs, and offers psychiatric counselling. But the association is overstretched and cannot compensate for the lack of state-run social services. Najat M'jid believes if more is not done soon, Morocco is heading for a street children crisis on the scale of Brazil.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4113441.stm 
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Compulsory Health Insurance Getting ready for 2006
By Houda Filali-Ansary 19/12/2004

Up to 50% of Morocco's population could benefit from health insurance in the three to four years to come. However, there is still plenty of work left before the compulsory health insurance system (AMO) starts officially in January 2006, said Morocco Premier, Driss Jettou "If we manage to involve between 30 and 40 % of the people eligible for the third group, the health insurance system will make it possible to include a big share of the population in the three to four years to come. This could mean up to 50% of the population, which would make it easier to give medical assistance," said Prime Minister Driss Jettou in a meeting on Friday Dec. 17.

Jettou also explained that beneficiaries of the compulsory health insurance programme would be divided into three groups: the public sector, whose members already represent two thirds of the present National Social Security Fund's 300, 000 beneficiaries; the private sector, with 1,350,000 potential members; and a third group also made up of workers from the private sector, including liberal professions with about five million potential members.

According to the general manager of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), the compulsory health insurance programme could be applied as soon as January 1, 2006. However, because of government budget limits on the one hand, and the need not to hurt Moroccan companies' competitivity on the other hand, there will be a five- year preliminary phase in which reimbursed health care will be limited to incurable illnesses such as diabetes or AIDS. This disadvantage should be tempered for a start by the fact that the Moroccan government has increased the health budget by 10% over the last three years and promised that it would improve health care services in hospitals.

Once the five-year preliminary period is over, depending on the number of members the compulsory health insurance programme will have managed to attract (there are nearly 2 million people included for the time being out of a total population of 29 million), less urgent health care could be reimbursed. In the meantime, certain advantages should make it possible for the programme to compete with private alternatives: reimbursements will have no maximum limits, and they will include coverage of illnesses that appeared before members signed in.

However, there are still many issues to be resolved before AMO starts in 2006, mainly as far as membership conditions and company participations are concerned. One of the most important of these is that of employees who earn the minimum wage or less (about DH 1600), which makes it difficult to determine the amount they should pay for their contributions. Both trade unions and Moroccan employers refuse to see these workers excluded from the system, fearing that this could lead to divisions between employees. The CNSS latest annual report revealed that 40% of its members earn less than the minimal wage. In addition to this, people with disproportionate but stable incomes will not be eligible to become members of AMO, even if they can afford to pay contribution fees. Despite a total life expectancy close to 70 years, 60 of them in good health, only around 16.4% of the Moroccan population now benefit from health insurance.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=1751 
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Over US$ 550 million extended in micro-funds in Jan-Sept 2004
RABAT, Dec.24

The total amount of micro-credits extended between January and September 2004 has reached 5 billion Dirhams (over US$ 550 million), marking a progression of 47% compared to 2003, says the Moroccan federation of micro-credit associations. The amount was extended as part of 2.2 million loans for 403,000 persons, including 71.3% of women, according to the source. In the same period, the loans helped create 1,745 jobs while reimbursement rate stands at 99.7%. The federation says the sector of micro-credit in Morocco is regulated by a clear law and a supervision of the competent authority. Micro-credit associations undergo audit and have a strong impact on recipient populations.

However, the available funds do not meet the demand, says the federation which estimates needs at 4 billion DH (over US$ 440 million) in credit lines and 100 million DH (US$ 11.1 million) in subsidies. In rural areas, micro-credit is poorly developed and activities of the concerned associations affect 40% of urban population and 9% in rural areas.

Set up in 2001, the federation musters 12 micro-credit associations and endeavors to establish a code of ethics, see to the respect of the law regulating the sector and propose to the competent authorities actions likely to ensure the development of the sector.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/barnier.htm 
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Mohammed V solidarity foundation collects 170 million MAD in 2004.
RABAT, Dec.21

The Mohammed V Solidarity foundation announced it has collected over 170 million MAD (around US$ 19 million) in commitments or actual donations in the 2004 fund-raising campaign. Out of the overall amount, 113 million MAD (US$ 13.3 million) come from the sale of solidarity stamps and badges. The figures were unveiled at a press conference held in the presence of Zoulika Nasri, advisor of King Mohammed VI and member of the Foundation administrative board.

Direct financing of projects or actions carried out by the Foundation reached 47.1 million MAD (US$ 5.2 million), while donations in foodstuffs, blankets, computers, and various items were worth 10.1 MAD (over US$ 1 million). The 7th national solidarity campaign was held between October 22 and November 5, 2004.

The royal advisor stressed that the Foundation has succeeded all along these seven campaigns to spread and entrench the culture of solidarity in the Moroccan society, praising the "intensive and spontaneous" participation of Moroccans who have, thanks to their donations, greatly contributed to improving the living conditions of a large portion of impoverished people. The foundation's action evolves around three major axes, namely spreading the culture of solidarity, reducing poverty and ensuring the economic and social integration of needy persons.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/forest_fire54.htm 
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ADB Supports Public Administration Reform in Morocco
Dec 21, 2004 (LiquidAfrica via COMTEX)

The African Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to support the efforts of the Moroccan government to upgrade the country's public administration and improve its performance and competitiveness. The Board of Directors of the ADB in Tunis on Monday approved a loan of 100 million Units of Account (UA*), equivalent to 153.60 million U S dollars (121 million Euros), in budget support to finance the Public Administration Reform Support Programme (PARAP). The goal of the programme is to promote strong economic growth and sustainable development, strengthening the competitiveness of the economy while ensuring medium-term macro-economic viability.

The project hinges on the following four components:
* Strengthening of Public Finance Management;
* Strengthening of Human Resource Management Efficiency;
* Control of the Increase in the Wage Bill; and
* Simplification and Rationalization of Administrative Procedures and Formalities.

The PARAP is expected to strengthen overall macro-economic equilibrium by rationalizing public spending while improving the general efficiency of the administration. It is expected that during the 2004-2007 period an average GDP growth rate of 4% in real terms will be achieved.
The success of a deconcentration process and the simplification of administrative procedures will have a direct effect on enterprises as users of public administration services as well as in the human r

source management component, positively affecting the quality of service rendered in the 12 ministries representing 80% of civil servants.
The World Bank and the European Union are also supporting the PARAP with loans of 100 million US dollars and 79 million Euros respectively.
The ADB operations in Morocco started in 1970. To date, the Bank's commitments in the country stand at 3.5 billion UA (EUR 4.04 billion or 45.60 billion Dirhams) in 84 operations. * UC = 1.53590 USD = 1.15525 EUR = 13.0263 Dirhams
(C) 2004 Press Release, Redistributed by LiquidAfrica.com, All Rights Reserved http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=356i1502&section=Countries&page=Morocco&channel=All%20Morocco%20News&objectid=22403786-8F1A-11D4-867000D0B74A0D7C 
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Education workshop in Marrakech.
22-12-2004

A regional workshop on educating street kids is being held from December 20 to 24 in Marrakech under the sponsorship of the Islamic Education Organization for Science and Culture, according to the official Moroccan press agency.
The event is being held in conjunction with the Regional Academy for Education and Training in Marrakech. Themes will include poverty and AIDs and how to increase sustainable development. Twenty six street educators from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the UAE will participate in the event.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Morocco/178538 
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2004 Census: Is thirty million enough?
By Houda Filali-Ansary 24/12/2004

The 2004 census results were a bolt from the blue: there are less than 30 million nationals living in Morocco, and the population increased only by 1.46% over the last ten years; but is this good news?

Morocco's legal population is composed of 29,840,273 Moroccans and 51,435 foreigners, revealed Ahmed Lahlimi, the head of the Moroccan Planning Commission on Dec. 22, in his presentation of the 2004 census results to HM King Mohamed VI. Figures also showed that the Moroccan population increased by 14.6% in ten years. According to Lahlimi, the 2004 census also revealed that 55.1% (16,463,634) of Moroccans live in urban areas, which is much less than expected.

One third of the country's population lives in the Casablanca region (3.6 million), the Souss-Massa-Draa region (3.1 million) and the Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz area (3.1 million). In addition to the Casablanca province, three areas - Kénitra, El Jadida and Marrakech - host more than two million inhabitants each. However, the census figures also revealed that Casablanca has much fewer inhabitants than expected, despite the fact that it concentrates about 10% of Morocco's population: instead of the 5 million inhabitants previously estimated, only 2.95 million people live in the economic capital.

Acording to Ahmed Lahlimi, urban populations increased by 2.1% per year since 1994, while rural areas increased by 0.6% only. These figures seem to worry certain media, such as the Moroccan daily "l'Economiste". The newspaper expressed its surprise at the figures, saying they were too small. It is true that the average growth rate between 1994 and 2004 was only 1.4%, against 2.01 % between 1982 and 1994, and 2.6% between 1982 and 1971, which means that the decrease in the population growth accelerated over the last ten years.

According to A. Lahlimi, these results are due to a decrease in fertility rates from 3.3 to 2.5. These changes, which occurred in both urban and rural areas, are due to the spread of contraception and the fact that people marry later than before.

Despite this, although the margin of error is quite negligible (less than 0.6/1000), one must not forget that nearly 10% of Moroccans live abroad, and that heavy illegal emigration cannot be accounted for with official figures.

Is this enough to trigger fears that Morocco might "become old before it ends being young"? Some fear that too quick a decrease in population growth will create new social problems in Morocco: today's young would retire simultaneously, which would have a tremendous impact on the national economy.

Before worrying whether Morocco is going to suffer the same problems as its European neighbours, one must not forget that it is becoming slowly but steadily an immigration country, with increasing immigration from Sub-Saharan Africa that does not only go through Morocco into Europe, but also come here for studies and jobs.

The 2004 census is the fifth one organized since Morocco's independence in 1956. From Sep. 2 to 20, some 40,000 agents, most of them school teachers, visited about 5.5 million households. Families were asked about 30 questions ranging from ages to matrimonial situation, health, studies or living conditions.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=1927 
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Morocco population growth slows, brings challenges.
Fri December 24, 2004 RABAT (Reuters)

Population growth in Morocco has fallen sharply over the 1994-2004 period but this means an increased pension burden and the need for new jobs as the young population ages, the top planning official said on Thursday. The average annual demographic growth and number of children per household fell to 1.4 percent and 2.5 children in 2004 from respectively 2.1 percent and 3.3 children in 1994, Planning High Commissioner Ahmed Lahlimi said.

"Morocco enters a demographic transition with its pros and cons," Lahlimi told Reuters. By 2030-2040, Morocco will have the same breakdown of the population according to age as that of France now, he said. This means a major shift for the North African country, where under 35-year olds account for two-thirds the population, according to latest available official figures. "Our population is getting older with all what this can bring in terms of pensions' burden ... More jobs will be needed for a growing workforce although spending on education will decrease because of fewer births," he added, noting that Rabat had been expecting "such imbalance".

At a news conference on Thursday, Lahlimi announced early results of September's national census. The country's population rose to 29.8 million up 14.6 percent from 10 years ago. But he did not disclose the age breakdown of the population, saying full census results would be announced in the second half of 2005. While Moroccan banks suffer chronic over-liquidity, the government is struggling to find work for some 180,000 youths, mainly university graduates, who enter the job market each year, economists and officials say. The unemployment rate in September stood at 10.9 percent of the country's 11-million workforce. Pension funds also suffer depleted resources after major fund mismanagement cases in the mid-1990s involving mainly social welfare fund CNSS.
http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=7174766 
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Morocco airs testimony on torture.
By GILLES TREQUESSER Reuters News Agency. Wednesday, December 22, 2004 - Page A11 RABAT

In an unprecedented truth-seeking process in the Arab world, Morocco began trying to blot out stains of past human-rights abuses yesterday with public testimony about tortures and disappearances in the Muslim kingdom. The hearings were broadcast live on national radio and television -- another first -- and held by a state body empowered to look into widespread abuses committed over a period of 43 years, from independence from France in 1956 to 1999. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) investigated and documented "grave" rights abuses, notably during the 1960s and 1970s, a period under the rule of the late King Hassan.

However, to avoid reviving old tensions, there was no naming of names: Participants were not allowed to identify individuals responsible for the violations. Some of the torturers are believed to still hold high positions in the state apparatus, particularly in the military. The IER said it received 22,000 files. About 200 people -- victims, relatives and witnesses -- were given an opportunity for up to 20 minutes each to present testimony and tell their tales of arbitrary detentions, disappearances or torture at the hands of security agents.

The hearings began at a government auditorium in the capital Rabat, with six witnesses speaking to an audience of 200 people as well as thousands of television viewers and radio listeners. The hearings are scheduled to take place in 10 cities over a period of 10 weeks. The witnesses, five men and a woman in their 50s and 60s, spoke calmly and with dignity -- three of them from a prepared text -- of arbitrary arrests, long prison detentions without trial in abject conditions and of "strange, inconceivable tortures."

El Ghali Bara, 62, was held for 15 years, mostly in a secret detention centre, until 1991 when he received a royal pardon. "One cannot describe the sufferings we endured, me and members of my family," he said, recalling how torturers put cigarettes out all over his body. "The impact of these hearings . . . will be enormous, not only in the country but throughout the region," said Hanny Megally, director for the Middle East and North Africa at the U.S.-based International Center for Transitional Justice.

According to rights groups and historians, King Hassan imprisoned thousands of perceived opponents, leftists and Islamists, as well as real and imagined coup plotters. He died in 1999. Soon after ascending the throne, his reform-minded son, now 41, created a board that compensated 4,000 victims of past abuses. The commission is expected to present a final report in April.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041222/MOROCCO22/TPInternational/Africa 
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Morocco digs out past torture cases, abuses.
21 Dec 2004 Reuters By Gilles Trequesser RABAT, Dec 21 (Reuters)

In an unprecedented truth-seeking process in the Arab world, Morocco tried to blot out stains of past human rights abuses on Tuesday with public testimony about tortures and disappearances in the Muslim kingdom. The hearings to be broadcast live on national radio and television -- another first -- were organised by a state body empowered to look into widespread abuses committed over a period of 43 years, from independence from France in 1956 to 1999.

The Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) was tasked with investigating and documenting "grave" human rights abuses, notably during the 1960s and 1970s, a period under the rule of the late King Hassan known in Morocco as "the years of lead". However, to avoid reviving old tensions there will be no naming of names as participants are not allowed to identify individuals responsible for the violations.

Some of the torturers are believed to still hold high positions in the state apparatus, particularly in the military. The IER said it received 22,000 files. About 200 people -- victims, relatives and witnesses -- were given an opportunity for 20 minutes each to present testimony and tell their tales of arbitrary detentions, disappearances or torture at the hands of security agents. The hearings, to start on Tuesday evening in the capital Rabat, are scheduled to take place in 10 different cities across the kingdom over a period of 10 weeks.

FINAL REPORT IN APRIL
"The impact of these hearings ... will be enormous, not only in the country but throughout the region," said Hanny Megally, director for the Middle East and North Africa at the U.S.-based International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). "It's almost unheard of in this part of the world for victims to be given an official platform to relate their experiences of abuse," he said. The IER, led by respected ex-political prisoner Driss Benzekri, is expected to present a final report in April that will set out the reasons and institutional responsibilities for grave violations up to 1999. Most victims asked for reparations, mainly in the form of financial compensations. The commission's statute was a disappointment for many human rights activists in Morocco who had lobbied for punishment of those responsible for torturing or killing political dissidents.

"This is a good initiative but conditions of transparency must be met at these hearings," said Abdelilah Ben Abdeslam, a member of Morocco's main independent human rights group AMDH. "Witnesses ... must be allowed to give names of people responsible for past human rights violations. One can't talk about truth if these torturers still occupy cushy jobs in the state and in its institutions," he said. Blessed with an image of moderation and long considered the most Western-oriented country in the Arab world, Morocco was ruled for 38 years until his death in 1999 by a monarch who relied on a ruthless security apparatus. King Hassan, human rights groups and historians say, imprisoned thousands of perceived opponents, leftists, Islamists as well as real and imagined coup plotters. Soon after ascending the throne, his reform-minded son, now 41, created a board that financially compensated 4,000 victims of past abuses.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21162430.htm 
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Morocco to modernize its refineries.

Moroccan prime minister, Driss Jettou, was accompanied by several members of his government, including Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi, president of the administrative council of SAMIR, to conclude the agreement regarding finalizing the refinery modernization agreement, according to the Moroccan daily Le Matin. The modernization deal is worth in the region of 7 billion Moroccan dirhams.
The aim is to improve the quality of the refined products, in particular, gasoline. This is to reduce pollution and also to improve health and safety conditions in the refineries. There is a fear of a major accident that could inflict severe damage.
Work is expected to last between two and a half and three years.
http://www.menareport.com/en/business/178479 
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Morocco needs to open up on nuclear technologies, minister
Morocco, Politics, 12/20/2004

The Moroccan economy needs to open up on nuclear technologies because of the energy bill, said on Friday Moroccan Minister of National Education, Higher Education, Cadres Training and Scientific Research. Morocco has entered a new phase that imposes the mobilization of all energies and diversification of the use of existing technologies that are necessary for its socio-economic development, said Habib El Malki at a meeting in the Center of National energy, sciences, and nuclear techniques (CNESTEN). Morocco has decided to open up on nuclear energies with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and as part of scientific and technical cooperation with countries such as France and the United States, said the minister.

This choice should be submitted to a control and follow up system in order to meet security needs, he said, recalling the House of Advisors' (upper parliament chamber) adoption of a law in relation to civil responsibility and nuclear risks. The minister explained that CNESTEN is supported by the government, noting that its budget for 2004 is estimated at 75 millions DHs (around US $8.3 million). He said the State will reinforce in 2005 its support to CNESTEN and will increase its budget to 120 million Dhs (around US $13.3 million). In addition to its scientific mission, CNESTEN conducts studies and research in sectors of health, water, industry, environment and mining.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/041220/2004122023.html 
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