Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
November 27 2004

New south Korean volunteers placed in Morocco.
Morocco's working children number 600,000
Domestic violence increasing in Morocco, survey
Moroccan English news website launched
Spain seeks EU assistance to fight Blue Tongue in Morocco.
Portugal to lend Morocco 100 million euros.
EIB keen on working closer with Maghreban private sectors.
A possible ancient origin for tuberculoses in Casablanca.
Number of Internet subscribers in Morocco hits 3 million.
Moroccan women struggle in the Media.
Foreign investments in Morocco up.
Locust swarms invade south, east of Morocco
Morocco eyes Arab tourism market.
Over 90 radio and TV channels license requests received by audio-visual authority.
Over US$ 2 million allocated to control of beggary in Morocco, official.
150 experts to discuss biotechnology and olive oil in Morocco
Moroccan first Arab women to become head of Olympic Candidate Evaluation Commission.
Moroccan youth hostels lack funds.
Tourism: 80,000 jobs created before 2010
Eleven percent of Moroccan children are working, survey.
Water and Sanitation: ADB approves 66.5 Mln Euro loan to Morocco.
US-based Moroccans found charity.
Morocco raises wages of mosques personnel.
Morocco, the World's Biggest Supplier of Cannabis.
Consumption: No Regulation on the Import of GM Food in Morocco
Moroccan Industries Facing Globalization

New south Korean volunteers placed in Morocco.

Ten new volunteers from South Korea have arrived in Morocco. They were greeted with an opening ceremony organized by the Korean International Agency for Cooperation. Korea and Morocco agreed to place the volunteers in social institutions, the faculty for economic and legal sciences at Meknes, the Urban Safety Agency at Fes, the Urban Commune at Fes, the Fes Agency for Urban Renewal and the regional pedagogic center at Rabat.

Korea is following the successful policy of Japan investing in the economy and society of developing countries in order to be placed in a stronger trading and diplomatic position for the future. Morocco welcomes the higher quality but cheaper priced Korean products. (albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=289518&lang=e&dir= 
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Morocco's working children number 600,000 .
By Houda Filali-Ansary 26/11/2004

Malak Benjelloun, the Moroccan administrator of the International Program for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), announced Thursday there are 600, 000 children working in Morocco. The information was part of a study jointly organized by the Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Solidarity and IPEC. The National study on employment ("l'étude nationale sur l'emploi") revealed working boys and girls aged between five and 14 represent 11% of Morocco's children.

Eighty-seven percent of working children come from rural areas, while only 13% are from cities, confirms the study, explaining that rural areas suffer from financial difficulties making it impossible to buy books and other school necessities. Also, rural children have to walk very long distances to reach their schools. Traditions, which make children an appreciated workforce in rural areas, also force them to leave school at an early age to help their parents with their farms.

Quite unexpectedly, the study also revealed that there are more working boys than girls. The reason being more girls who do not go to school tend to stay in their families' homes, while more non-schooled boys work. According to the Moroccan law, children of both sexes are not allowed to work under the age of 15.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=945 
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Domestic violence increasing in Morocco, survey
RABAT, Nov.24

Domestic violence is increasing in Morocco, according to a national survey which revealed that 60 per cent of violence cases concern married women aged 20 to 49 years and 59.8 pc are the consequence of disputes over child custody, divorce and alimony. The survey conducted between 2000 and 2003 at the initiative of the Democratic League of Women's Rights on the occasion of the celebration, November 25, of the international day of violence against women, describes as "worrisome" domestic violence.

The survey, based on the testimonies of victims that showed up in the 23 centers of "juridical orientation and psychological support for victims" scattered around the country, show that most cases of domestic violence are recorded in the cities. It also showed that in most cases husbands, brothers-in-law, mothers-in-law are to blame for the aggressions against married women. The direct causes of this violent behaviour are alcohol, drugs, nervous breakdowns and perversity. To tackle this phenomenon, the Moroccan Government has ratified a number of international conventions banning domestic violence against women and improved the status of women thanks to the new Family Code which was enforced last year.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/news/economy/h_depJewish.htm 
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Moroccan English news website launched
RABAT, Nov.22

Morocco Times, a Moroccan news webstite in English, will be launched this Nov.22 during the opening of the international World Summit on the Information Society in Marrakech. "The Morocco Times website ( www.moroccotimes.com ) is designed to be an open space, defending the values of democracy, modernity and freedom," said Othman El Oumeir, President of Maroc Soir, the leading press group in Morocco, which publishes Le Matin in French, Assahra Al Maghribia in Arabic and La Manana in Spanish.

There is currently a huge need for an English news source from Morocco, stressed Oumeir. "There are many Moroccans studying English in the country and a huge amount of Moroccans living in English-speaking countries. But mostly, there is a need for an international knowledge of Morocco," he said, adding that until now, the only international access to Moroccan news was in French.

The website, whose motto is "The local newspaper with a global perspective," will be updated daily to provide balanced news coverage of Morocco and the Maghreb region. It will also cover international news and provide a Moroccan angle to the world's events and issues. "This site will be open to different viewpoints and will address all aspects of Moroccan daily life from politics and the economy to culture and society," Oumeir said.

Based in Casablanca, the Morocco Times has an international staff with backgrounds, in addition to journalism, include communication studies, archaeology, translation, finance, athletics, literature, religion and cultural studies. The website also promises an extensive coverage of the conference that will address the Role and Place of Media in the Information Society in Africa and the Arab States. It will be attended by media professionals, non-governmental organizations concerned with freedom of expression and freedom of the press and academic experts from across the globe.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Spain seeks EU assistance to fight Blue Tongue in Morocco.
Madrid, Nov. 22

The Spanish government will seek the collaboration of the European Union to eradicate Blue Tongue in neighboring Morocco so as to avoid the propagation of the disease to Spain or other EU countries, said Spanish diplomatic sources. The request is due to be presented by Spanish agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister, Elena Espinosa, at the meeting of Fisheries and Agriculture Council in Brussels, the same sources added, as cited by Europapress. Spain will request the allocation of an aid to Moroccan authorities part of Morocco-EU association accord. Some 971 cattle heads were reported affected by the Blue Tongue disease since last September when the condition first appeared in Morocco. A surveillance committee was set up to follow up the situation of cattle nationwide, monitor the appearance of new cases and propose health measures.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h_depmay26.htm 
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Portugal to lend Morocco 100 million euros.
Lisbon, Nov 18

Portugal is contemplating to lend Morocco 100 million euros as accompaniment to Portuguese investments in this North African country, the Portuguese foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The loan could be made on the upcoming meeting of the Moroccan-Portuguese high joint commission to take place in the town of Sinatra, west of Lisbon. The loan agreement is to be signed during the commission meeting, said the Portuguese News agency adding the gathering is also to discuss a number of economic, social and trade issues.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/news/economy/h_deplocusts.htm 
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EIB keen on working closer with Maghreban private sectors.
Tunis, Nov 17

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is opening two offices in the Tunisian and Moroccan capital cities to be able to work closer with the private sectors of the two Maghreban countries, a story run Wednesday by the economic supplement of the Tunisian "La Presse" Newspaper said. La Presse, which said that the EIB Tunis office will open on December 10th and the Rabat office in 2005, added the European bank will no longer need the authorization of the State to proceed to granting loans in the two countries.

The financial support the bank is intending to make in the two Maghreban countries is in response to the need of Mediterranean nations to progressively integrate the projected Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone to be operational as of 2010, the newspaper said. The EIB lent Tunisia 395 million euros in 2003 as part of the FEMIP initiative (Euro-Mediterranean investment and partnership facility). Tunisia also borrowed 55 million euros for its electricity and natural gas company and 45 million euros for its transport society, as well as 35 million euros for a Bizert-based metal processing plant. Morocco got 194 million euros in 2003 from the EIB for, including 110 million for the « Société nationale des autoroutes ».

EIB loans are mostly given to the public sector of Mediterranean nations, but the bank is carrying out a new partnership strategy between the public and private sectors in Europe and in the Mediterranean, according to the newspaper.
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A possible ancient origin for tuberculoses in Casablanca.

Each year tuberculosis kills about three million people in the world. In particular it is responsible for the death of more than one-third of HIV- infected people, who prove particularly susceptible owing to a decline in immune defenses. The agent responsible is a bacterium of the species Mycobacterium tuberculosis, also termed Koch's bacillus, after the scientist who discovered it in 1882.

Molecular epidemiology has proved valuable for understanding the transmission and control of tuberculosis, thanks to the development of different methods of characterization of the M. tuberculosis genome However, little genetic data is currently available in the countries of the South, where this disease is often a major public health problem. In Morocco, tuberculosis incidence is still high, with about 30 000 new cases are recorded each year, in spite of a level of HIV infection that remains of quite low concern and the application since 1991 of a WHO strategy called DOTS (2). Researchers from the IRD and their scientific partners (1) studied the genetic diversity and structure of a Moroccan population consisting of 150 strains of the species M. tuberculosis. These strains come from 150 pulmonary tuberculosis infected subjects living in Casablanca, the country's economic capital, which on its own accounts for one-fifth of all tuberculosis cases declared in Morocco.

Two independent and complementary molecular genotyping techniques were applied to the specimens collected. The first used generalist genetic markers which allow analysis of the genetic diversity of the population considered, but also comparison of the genetic diversity of the pathogenic species M. tuberculosis with that of other microorganisms. The second, which is the most recent technique used for characterizing the M. tuberculosis genome, calls on specific markers of this mycobacterium, adapted to the identification of the different strains isolated.

The statistical analyses performed on the basis of data obtained concerning the population studied shows that it has a clonal structure: its constituent strains behave and evolve overall like natural clones that are stable with time.

Moreover, analysis of the genetic profiles of the different strains revealed a large genetic diversity in the population (3). This result was unexpected, because the populations of M. tuberculosis coming from high-incidence countries, as in Morocco, generally show a low degree of polymorphism. The polymorphism that did occur was seen between the strains of one and the same district of the city of Casablanca, between strains collected the same year and often between those resulting from the same infected family. The population studied consequently consisted of many circulating clones.

The results taken overall suggest that there is an ancient origin of tuberculosis in Casablanca. No one genetic profile was numerically dominant. Therefore transmission of the disease would be effected by reactivation of pre-existing, latent, strains rather than by recent transmissions of novel strains. The fact that several genetically different strains can affect the members of a single family shows that contamination, in this context of high incidence, can also be exogenous, the disease being contracted outside the family home. Important pieces of information on the biological, clinical and epidemiological behavior of this mycobacterium, especially in terms of identification and treatment of different sources of contamination, have thus been contributed. No genetic study had previously been conducted in Morocco on M. tuberculosis populations. The work performed on the sample collected at Casablanca therefore provided the first indices for understanding tuberculosis transmission in this area. Such molecular epidemiology investigations, conducted in other towns and villages of Morocco, and in other countries where the disease is endemic, favor an overall approach to the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis. This is vital if effective control measures of this disease are to be deployed.
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Marie Guillaume - DIC

(1) The joint CNRS-IRD research unit Génétique et Evolution des Maladies Infectieuses (Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases) has worked in tandem with the INSERM Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Bacteria Pathogenesis at the Lille Pasteur Institute. Sample collection and the epidemiological survey were conducted in conjunction with the Mycobacteria Department of the Morocco Pasteur Institute at Casablanca.

(2) DOTS: Directly observed Treatment Short-course. This strategy for tuberculosis control was implemented in Morocco in 1991, with the following main objectives: application of the standard short chemotherapy course (6 months) for all new microscopically positive cases of pulmonary tuberculosis; treatment of all the other forms of tuberculosis once the diagnosis established; maintenance of vaccination cover using BCG at over 90 % in newborns. These different objectives involve the permanent commitment of government authorities in tuberculosis control and the necessity for regular, consistent supply of high-quality medicines.

(3) Moreover, this diversity appears highly significant when compared with that of other species of microorganism (bacteria, yeasts, protozoans) that evolve on the same clonal model. M. tuberculosis has a greater genetic diversity than the 4 species of Leishmania tested (average values are 0.48 as against 0.14; 0.07; 0.19 and 0.14). The value obtained for M. tuberculosis (0.48) is close to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.42) and Candida albicans (0.51). http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/medizin_gesundheit/bericht-36686.html 
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Number of Internet subscribers in Morocco hits 3 million.

The number of Internet subscribers in Morocco has reached 3 million, the Moroccan Minister in charge of Economic and General Affairs, Rachid Talbi Alami has indicated. Addressing the inaugural meeting of the Arab-African follow-up Conference of the World Summit on the Information Society (November 22-24), he said that the kingdom encouraged initiatives for a greater access to the Internet by cutting costs and introducing the Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), MAP reported.
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?sid=289394&lang=e&dir=business 
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Moroccan women struggle in the Media.
Narjis Reghaye: "Women are hitchhikers without baggage on the side of the information highway."
By Mary Fowles 23/11/2004

Women's role in media toped the agenda on the second day of the International Follow-up Conference of the WSIS. While the hall was half empty and only three of six scheduled speakers showed up, one message was clear: Women's equal participation in media is essential to the development of the sector; yet there remain unequal power relations between men and women in all forms of media.

"Women are hitchhikers without baggage on the side of the information highway," said Narjis Reghaye, a Moroccan journalist and activist. She cited the high illiteracy rate among Moroccan women as one major obstacle preventing their access to Information and Communication Technologies (ITC's). "We also produce inequalities among the genders through the media," she added, pointing out the negative images of women in media and textbooks which enforce the stereotype of women as housewives. In addition, she said, out of the 600 Moroccan newspapers, a small percentage is managed by women.

Abdelmounaim Dilami, president of the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Editors, elaborated on the statistics. Development within the Francophone and Arab sectors has taken place at a different rate, he said. Within the Francophone media women represent 40 to 50 percent of the workforce and many women occupy management positions. The Arab-speaking sector is much slower with women representing only three percent of the workforce and very few in positions of leadership. "We live in one society that is moving forward at two different speeds. This is due to cultural foundations that are quite different. We will have to counteract this," said Dilami.

Michelle Ntab, regional director for Africa, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters said the problem is global. She encouraged WSIS's goals concerning the place of women in media including the eradication of negative stereotypes in the media, promoting the use of ICT's and "Internet Literacy" among women, thereby giving them access to information.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=852 
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Foreign investments in Morocco up.

Foreign investments in Morocco amounted to DM 23.5 billion (2.35 billion Euro) in 2003, say a 246% increase compared to DM6.8 billion (680 million Euro) in 2002, a report by the Moroccan Investments Department, has indicated. Foreign direct investments and loans amounted to a record level of DM98.7 billion during the last five years against DM31.5 billion in the 1994-1998 period, indicated the report. European Union countries remain the largest investors in Morocco, with a share of 91%. Investments in industrial projects come on top with DM18.87 million invested, followed by real estate (some DM2 billion), services (DM884 million) and telecoms (DM633.5 million). (menareport.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?sid=289504&lang=e&dir=business 
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Locust swarms invade south, east of Morocco
Laayoune,(Southern Morocco) Nov. 23

Locusts swarms have invaded in the latest week the southern city of Laayoune and the eastern province of Jerada causing serious damages in crops and green spaces. The first swarms swept into Laayoune on Friday despite efforts to fight these insects that can consume vast swathes of crops. The swarms that invaded the region of Jerada came through eastern borders with Algeria.

A single swarms can cover up to 5.000 to 30.000 hectares, said president of the anti-locusts regional center in Laayoune, Ekka Elbouki. He said 97pc of the targeted area has been treated so far. Nearly 60.000 hectares have been treated during the 4 latest days in the surroundings of Laayoune, he explained, noting that locusts caused major damages in the green space of the city of Laayoune and its surrounding, as well as in the irrigated area of Foum El-Ouad.

Locusts had previously swept the region of Figuig, near Jerada, last October. Official sources said the situation is currently under control.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/mad_1throne.htm 
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Morocco eyes Arab tourism market.
MARRAKECH, Nov. 24

Morocco which already constitutes a destination of choice for Europeans, is seeking to attract more tourists from Arab countries. For this purpose, the Government will support efforts of travel agencies and tour operators in Arab countries that want to encourage their citizens to visit Morocco.

A message addressed by HM King Mohammed VI to participants in the International Congress of Journalists and Writers specialized in tourism that opened, here Wednesday, said that despite the fact that Morocco has exceeded, for the first time ever, the 5 million tourist mark in 2004, "we do not content ourselves merely with visitors from European countries, which constitute the first tourist-emitting market in the world, but we also count on Arab tourism as we believe in the cultural role of tourist exchange and the contribution it makes to strengthening brotherly bonds between our peoples."

In his message read out on his behalf by Adil Douiri, Moroccan Minister of Tourism, handicraft and Social Economy, the monarch said: "In accordance with my instructions, the Moroccan government is seeking to support the efforts of travel agencies and tour operators in Arab countries that want to encourage their citizens to visit Morocco."

HM King Mohammed VI also called on investors, especially from the hotel industry in Arab and other countries, to avail themselves of the valuable and promising opportunities arising from the thriving tourist industry in the North African country.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/forest_fire54.htm 
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Over 90 radio and TV channels license requests received by audio-visual authority.
MARRAKECH, Nov.23

The high authority of audio-visual communication (HACA) has received to date some 90 requests for the creation of new radio and TV channels, announced on Tuesday the authority chairman Ahmed Ghazali. The authority, set up in August 2002, is currently studying these requests, he said recalling that the state first started to disengage from the audio-visual waves with the creation of Tangiers-based radio « Medi1 » and "2M" TV.

The official who was speaking at a meeting on "the media freedom, independence and pluralism in the society of information" held as part of the international follow-up conference to the world summit on the society of information (Marrakech, Nov.22-24) stressed that the decision to liberalize the audio-visual sector in Morocco implies a set of social, cultural and economic stakes in addition to its impact on sustainable development and democratic construction.

For Ghazali, the ongoing democratic construction in Morocco requires the consolidation of decentralization and regionalization by encouraging investments in audio-visual projects at the level of regions. He also stressed that the sector liberalization is expected to drain capital, create new jobs, promote the emergence of a strong national production industry and improve local skills.

However, he went on, the practice of communication freedom should observe the pluralistic nature of ideas and opinions and human dignity, calling professionals to uphold the right to pluralistic and accurate information, service the maximum number of regions and reflect in their programs the plurality and diversity of opinions between political parties, lobbies and associations.

The presentation also noted the importance of audio-visual communication, as a vector of values, in shaping up the collective imaginary of a society, developing arts and culture by accommodating cultural artistic and linguistic plurality.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Over US$ 2 million allocated to control of beggary in Morocco, official.
RABAT, Nov.24

A budget of 20 million DH (over US$ 2 million) was earmarked for a program to control beggary and the use of children in begging, said social development, family and solidarity minister, Abderrahim Harouchi. The official told the weekly question-time at the chamber of advisors (upper parliamentary chamber) his department has worked out a program that evolves around social and family integration of children exploited in beggary and economic integration of adults who exploit children, and involves non-governmental organization in raising awareness on the dangers of this plague.

The program will start next week, said the minister, who also announced the launching of 1,816 small projects, for a total cost of 320 million DH (over US$ 33 million) consisting of infrastructures, social services, income-generating activities and integrating persons in a precarious situation, said Harrouchi who did not give any figures on children involved in begging.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/spor3005.htm 
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150 experts to discuss biotechnology and olive oil in Morocco

Work for an international seminar on biotechnology and the quality of olive products in the Mediterranean basin, called Olivebioteq-2004, has opened this week in Errachidia. The event is drawing 150 experts and researchers from different countries all over the Mediterranean region.

The seminar is organized by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development along with the Agronomy Institute of King Hassan II. The aim is to exchange information to make the region more internationally competitive and to draw up a joint strategy to combat risks to production and export. It is also intended to promote new biotech technologies for olive and olive oil production and preservation, such as new treatment technologies. Morocco has a long tradition of olive oil production and olive oil is an increasingly important export item as lucrative markets in China and Asia are increasing their demand for the high quality oil. (albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=289516&lang=e&dir= 
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Moroccan first Arab women to become head of Olympic Candidate Evaluation Commission.

Nawal El Moutawakil, 44 years old, is a Moroccan hero and legend thanks to her performance in the 400 meter hurdles in the Olympic games in Los Angelesin 1984. Now, Nawal has become the President of the Candidate Evaluation Commission and as of next year will judge which candidates are entitled to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games. She is the first Arab, African or Muslim woman to be selected for this post, as reports Driss Bougrine, from the French language Web afrique-sport.com website. Bougrine explains that Nawal and Saïd Aouita represent the golden age of Moroccan athletics. (albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=289296&lang=e&dir= 
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Moroccan youth hostels lack funds.

The Moroccan newspaper Le Matin complains that the kingdom desperately needs funding to rejuvenate Morocco's youth hostels which suffer from a lack of support. There are now 14 hostels in Casablanca, Rabat, Mekhn?s, Fes, Marrakech, Asni, Tanger, L?ayoune, Chefchaouen, Goulmima, Rissani, Azrou, Mehdia and Tenghir. In 2003, an average of 500 nights were spent in Morocco in youth hostels. The main concentrations of tourists are from Canada,Australia, Japan, Denmark, Germany, UK, Egypt, Tunisia and France. Morocco joined the international youth hostel association in 1936, when the first hostel opened in the main commercial city Casablanca. A few years later, Morocco became the first African and Arab country with its own youth hostel federation. (albawaba.com)
http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?action=story&sid=289417&lang=e&dir= 
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Tourism: 80,000 jobs created before 2010

A total of 80,000 new jobs will be created in the tourism industry before 2010, announced Adil Douiri, minister of Tourism, Handicrafts and Social Economy. Douiri read a message from HM King Mohammed VI addressed to the participants of the international congress of tourism's journalists, being held in Marrakech from Nov. 22 to 29, saying that total capacity has been increased by 9,000 new beds in 2003, in comparison with an average of 1,500 per year in the early 90's. Morocco has devised an ambitious plan to attract 10 million tourists by 2010 which will more than triple its total capacity to 230,000 beds.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=879 
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Eleven percent of Moroccan children are working, survey.
RABAT, Nov.26

About 600,000 Moroccan children, aged between 4 and 15, are working, accounting for 11% of all Moroccan children, revealed a "national employment survey" conducted by the employment ministry and the international program for the abolition of children labor. IPEC National manager in Morocco, Malak Benchekroun, told a press conference the total includes 58% of boys and 42% of girls. Among boys, 13% work, 79% go to school and 8% have no activity, while 9.5% of girls work, 69% are schooled and 21% do not have any activity. The survey also found that child labor is more spread in rural regions, with a rate of 19% as schooled kids barely exceed 57%, while in urban areas child labor affects 3% of children.

"child labor is found more in rural areas as 87% of working children are found there, compared to 13% in cities", says the study which ascribes the phenomenon to poverty, large families, rural exodus and the preference of young labor in several activities. For the program manager, there are three categories of children labor that should be abolished. The labor of children below legal age, dangerous activities that can harm the physical, psychological, and moral health and degrading activities, she went on without elaborating. She also stressed that the Moroccan legislation has introduced several amendments to children labor, taking into account principles of agreements adopted by the international labor organization and ratified by Morocco.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/forest_fire.htm 
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Water and Sanitation: ADB approves 66.5 Mln Euro loan to Morocco.
Tunis, Nov. 25 (MAP)

The African Bank for Development (ADB) has approved a loan of 66.5 million Euro to Morocco to fund a project of drinking water supply and draining in the country, announced ADB. The loan will be used to help improve the living conditions of people living in five Moroccan villages by providing them with drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities. The project aims at ensuring sustainable supply of drinking water to several towns and cities, to the new tourist and port complexes. It will improve access to drinking water in rural areas that are not on the supply network as well as improve hygiene, said the same source. It will secure the drinking water supplied to the 3 new tourist resorts and the new port complex. It will create 24 000 direct jobs and about 54 000 indirect jobs.

The total cost of the drinking water supply project is estimated at UA 77.8 million, equivalent to 91.5 million Euro. The ADB represents around 72.2% of the estimated project cost. The remaining 27.8% or UA 21.6 million UA will be provided by ONEP, the national drinking water board (ONEP).

Relations between the Bank Group and ONEP date back to 1978.To date, the cumulative commitment of the Group to ONEP amounts to UA 123 million, equivalent to 145 million Euro for five projects. The Operations of the Bank Group in Morocco started in 1970. To date, the amount committed by the Bank in Morocco stands at UA 3.145 billion, equivalent to 3.7 billion Euro.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/arafat_late.htm 
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US-based Moroccans found charity.
WASHINGTON, Nov.26

A group of Moroccans living in the US states of Virginia, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Chicago have set up the "Morocco Foundation" charity, to support Morocco's efforts for the protection of destitute children, encourage children schooling, particularly rural girls and bring relief to poorest populations and handicapped persons. The association secretary general, Nadia Serhane, says the non-political and non-profit seeking association will seek to establish cultural and humanitarian cooperation with Americans and other foreign communities living in the USA.

A campaign to collect books, clothes and school supplies that will be shipped to Morocco was the association's first activity, said Serhane, adding that most donations came from Americans and Albanians. The association also intends to collect medical and orthopaedic equipment, medicine and wheelchairs for hospitals as well as computers and educational tools to be sent to social and youth training centers.

The association's activities can be viewed at its website ( www.moroccofoundation.org  ).
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Morocco raises wages of mosques personnel.
RABAT, Nov.26

Morocco will increase the wages of imams from an annual average of 8,000 Dirhams (around US$ 800), less than 660 Dh (US$ 67) per month to 11,000 DH annually (US$ 1,200), 917 DH monthly (US$92). A statement of the ministry of habous (Islamic endowments) and Islamic affairs says HM King Mohammed VI has given instructions to allocate 150 million DH (over US$ 15 million) to improve the material situation of mosques personnel. Morocco counts 33,082 imams, with 80% receiving a monthly salary of less than 600 DH. The measure will concern both imams working in mosques managed by the ministry and those financed by benefactors.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/news/general/would-immi.htm 
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Morocco, the World's Biggest Supplier of Cannabis.
11-24-2004

Cannabis output (including marijuana, hash, and hash oil) continues to rise in Morocco and production has been climbing since the 1980s. In 2003, the Moroccan government began investigating the state of the drugs business and the resulting report suggests that 134,000 hectares of land are dedicated to cannabis. Former interior minister Driss Basri used to estimate the value of the drugs market in Morocco is at about $20 billion, but analysts say that number is not necessarily accurate.

The bulk of cannabis cultivation concentrates in the northern provinces of Morocco where transport to Europe is easier, faster and cheaper. According to the Cannabis Cultivation Survey, a research effort conducted jointly by the Moroccan government and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cannabis cultivation in Morocco is concentrated in the five provinces of the northern region along the mountainous chain of the Rif. One province alone- Chefchaouen -amounts to 50% of cultivation and 43% of potential production of raw cannabis, followed by Taounate (19%), Al Hoceima (17%) and the provinces of Larache and Tetouan. The region is particularly conducive to cannabis cultivation largely because poverty is a dominant factor and lack of economic activity forces local farmers to focus on the most profitable crops.

The surface used for the purpose of cannabis cultivation in Morocco is estimated at 14,000 square kilometers, accounting for 1.5% of the arable land. The potential output for raw cannabis is estimated at 3,080 tons per year plus another 47,000 tons of cannabis herbs. The report indicates that a strong 75% of the hamlets in the northern provinces produce cannabis and the authors extrapolates that nearly 100,000 farmers have cannabis plantations. They represent the equivalent of 6.5% of the farming community in Morocco. Alarmingly, a total of 800,000 people earn a living from growing and trading this crop. This means that 2.7% of the population is in the cannabis business.

However, a special census conducted in 1994 indicated that 1.65 million people were living from Cannabis. The decline of the population involved in this business, if it were the case, while production is up, could be explained by improvement in production techniques and increasing yields. Less people are required to produce more in an effort to gain added productivity. This productivity increase is by far the best in the whole agricultural sector in Morocco. The report calculates that the revenue per household of the farmers involved is MAD 20,900 on average per year. This is half of what these households reported earning each year, with the remaining income generated from legal farming activity.

However, the biggest beneficiaries of the cannabis business in Morocco are not the farmers but those who work in bringing the product to the market. Intermediaries and distributors, in other words drug dealers, generate MAD 114 billion, compared to the MAD 2 billion earned by the farmers. That is a ratio of one to 57.

In terms of markets, Europe has been the primary destination of Moroccan cannabis judging by the quantities seized on both sides of the Straight of Gibraltar. In 2001, only 7% of Moroccan grown cannabis was seized in Morocco while 75% was seized in Europe. Spain accounted for 57% because it has been the transit center for a great quantity of cannabis moving into the rest of the European continent.

The limited quantities seized in Morocco are indicative of limited law enforcement capabilities available in the North African country. The Moroccan police occasionally publicize their activities as a demonstration of their involvement in law enforcement but their actions are often limited in scope.
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Consumption: No Regulation on the Import of GM Food in Morocco
10-28-2004 -- From 150th issue

Moroccans are unaware whether they currently consume genetically modified (GM) food. There is no legislation banning it, approving it or simply regulating the use of it. But there is a consensus among food experts that GM foods are there and part of the Moroccan households' consumption habits. Although growing GM agricultural products is said to be illegal in Morocco, even at the experimental level, there are imported additives included in the food that have likely been genetically tempered. These additives, which boost the taste and color of the food, are not produced in Morocco. But there is also a large list of key products imported from foreign markets that could indeed be GM based. That includes a list of products that could entirely be based on GM such as flour, semolina, corn, oils, and other cereal and non-cereal based products.

There is also a list of products that can partially contain a GM component, including cakes, biscuits, cooked meals, beers, chewing gum, ice cream, and a large list of other products.

For nutritionists practicing in Morocco, there is no doubt that GM food is consumed there. Whether it is popcorn or sweets, there is a consensus among professionals about this issue. But while trade and customs officials say the import of GM food is illegal, they do not have, however, the capacity to enforce the law. But even if they had the technology of identifying GM food, there is a legal problem in that Morocco's laws do not have any way of handling importers of GM food.

The fraud enforcement units at the Moroccan customs concentrate their efforts on a variety of missions. The control seeds and plants, the verification the contents of pesticides, and analysis of samples of finished products are among the various control actions they take in the nation's ports and airports. In theory, these units can ban the entry of any products they deem hazardous to consumers. In the case of GM products, they have no tools or legal instruments to allow them to use their best judgments. Not only there are no laws but no single laboratory in Morocco is equipped to identify GM food.

Products entering Morocco undergo three control steps before they move out of the port of entry. The first step is a visual control during which customs agents check the merchandise before clearing it. The second check is to verify the products labels to identify anything suspicious or illegal under Moroccan law. The third step is a chemical analysis, which is random. In June 2002, the newly enacted a law on imported products and the obligatory use of labels failed to introduce anything about genetically modified products.

In Europe, the regulation requires that products carrying GM modified components must be identified in the labels. Whether the product was itself subject of genetic modification or contains a GM ingredient, the label must report it. In July 2003, the Europeans have further strengthen their regulation to include food consumed by both humans and animals.
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Moroccan Industries Facing Globalization
08-04-2004 -- Trade and Globalization

The establishment of a free-trade zone between Morocco and the European Union is what is in the mind of many Moroccan industrialists. For some, the agreement will open new opportunities for them in Europe. For others, it is a source of worries and major potential problems as trade barriers are removed and goods and products from Europe will ultimately enter Morocco without any obstacle.

The fear among many comes from the fact that the EU has recently expanded to add 10 new members, widely considered here in Morocco to be low-cost manufacturing nations therefore direct competitors. Countries like Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary not only boast highly qualified workforces, but they also have access to lower-cost energy in comparison to what Moroccan companies pay.

With larger industries, Eastern European countries are also advantaged by their economies of scale, and that is not the case for Morocco. Among the advantages of having economies of scale is that the fixed cost can be spread over larger quantities of output, hence lowering the unit price of products and services offered to the market.

In addition, industries such as the household appliances assembly in Morocco have not grown in an organic fashion and there are no peripheral industries to support them. Peripheral industries include contract manufacturers that supply parts and components they manufacture to the product assembler.

So are Morocco's industries doomed to fail? Household Appliances market analysts worry that this could indeed be the case for the companies they monitor. Their demise, they say, could occur as early as in the medium term, even long before the country completely removes its protective barriers by 2012. They argue that what keeps local production alive is precisely the protection it gets from customs, keeping foreign competition at bay.

But although Europe is likely to be a source of problem to local production companies, the steps made so far by Morocco to get closer to Europe have been a boon to everyone in the Kingdom. The reductions of the import taxes for products coming from Europe, and which began in March 2003 created an unprecedented demand for electric household appliances and other products in Morocco. Both importers and domestic assemblers witnessed sustained strong sales and revenue growth. In the past two years, the market grew at a rate of between 10% and 15%. 2004 is also predicted to perform well, most likely to grow at the same rate. This performance is indeed remarkable considering that growth in that industry is at least three times the expected GDP growth. The television set market was the strongest, with an estimated 300,000 units sold in a year, although that number is difficult to confirm. A 2.5% reduction in import taxes on TV sets and strong growth in the household penetration of satellite television broadcasting have led to a major boost in TV set sales. Because there is now a variety of broadcast programs to choose from, a growing number of households are acquiring their second or even third TV unit. A new refresh cycle aimed at replacing aging TV sets is also underway.

This is now. In the future however, what will be left for the current assemblers or manufacturers is a strong likelihood of becoming sole importers. But although given the current environment the washer and dryer industry is almost certain to disappear, the fate of other industries related to electrical household appliances sector is still unclear. A very few companies such as Manar, the producer of the Siera brand and Fagor have been working hard to adapt to the changes in the laws, including those regulating commerce and customs. After its successive lowering in 2003 and 2004, the import tax for products originating from Europe is at 40%, a rate that burdens the two assemblers and make them uncompetitive on the longer term. If assembly and production will remain a core business for the two companies in the foreseeable future, there is a strong likelihood that they will increasingly switch to importing finished items and distribute them in Morocco instead of assembling them there. Already, 50% of Sieras are imported today and the company is preparing to raise the share of imports to 75%. Fagor also taps into its parent company, Spain-based Fagor S. Coop., Ltda. to import finished units into the Moroccan market. In the future, chances are the Moroccan unit will transform itself into a marketing and distribution business and will probably scrap its assembly facility. The message from many industry players is clear. Given their cost structure they cannot compete with global corporations. Analysts say the cost of producing appliances in Morocco is between the costs of Western Europe and those of Central Europe. And as long as Central European producers have the cost advantage, producers in Morocco will not run a competitive business. At Siera, managers are currently working to reduce production cost to compete with the new members of the European Union.

But Central Europe is not the only problem. Turkey is also a source of anguish for Moroccan producers. To make things more complicated, the two countries have recently signed a free-trade agreement, and that constitutes another factor of risk. Some Moroccans complain that Turkish exports are subsidized by their government. But they also say Turkey has lower cost of energy and a lower cost of labor.

Although the Morocco-Turkish free-trade zone will undergo a transition period before full implementation, Turkish producers are widely considered as formidable competitors. Even among the multinational corporations that only have an import and distribution presence in Morocco and no assembly activity, many concede that Turkish companies are likely to challenge their presence there. Their strength is related to the business environment in which they operate. Three industrial groups are active in the Electric household appliances production in Turkey. These groups are surrounded by a dense contract manufacturing and supplier network and benefit from a relatively large market. The result of these factors and others is that Turkish companies are more competitive than even their Central European peers. In addition, a weak Turkish currency drove production costs by 10% to 15% lower than the cost of production in Central Europe.

But reporting on household appliances without mentioning Asia would be a mistake. This is because China reportedly produces 40% of the world's electric household appliances. Exports of that category of products exceeded $8 billion in 2002. half of the washing machines sold in the world is produced in China and 75% of all microware ovens carry the manufactured-in-China label. It is not surprising that China is where multinational corporations get their supplies. That includes the Moroccan Manar, which imports virtually all of its television sets and a proportion of its other product lines distributed in Morocco. These imports from China helped Manar remain afloat and compete with the big brands.

The Chinese are not the only giants consider a threat factor to Moroccan producers. The South Koreans have made significant strides in penetrating emerging markets and brands like LG now have instant recognition among consumers. It took LG just about six years to establish a reputation of a good company among Moroccan consumers. The Korean vendor has been able to consolidate its position for many product lines. LG pioneered aggressive marketing campaigns to strengthen its position in Morocco, forcing its competitors to follow its steps, but only a few were able to invest in such campaigns.
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