Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
December 17 , 2005

Measures to whip up handicraft sector.
30% of Moroccan children under 5 suffer from Anemia.
Morocco launches national campaign against cancer.
Morocco to prevent spread of AIDS in prison.
Morocco to gradually suppress subsidies to basic commodities.
Some 2,500 jobs created thanks to micro-credits, PM.
WB Approves USD 260Mn loan to promote financial sector, rural water supply in Morocco.
Forest fires consume over 6,000ha in 2005.
89% of Moroccan villages to get electricity by end 2006.
'Bribery in Morocco a cause for concern'.

Measures to whip up handicraft sector.
Casablanca, Dec. 16

Moroccan Tourism and Handicraft Minister, Adil Douiri announced here Thursday several measures to whip up Moroccan handicraft, which employs some 4.5Mn people. Speaking at a conference-debate organized by the French chamber of commerce on handcraft, the minister voiced the authorities resolve to encourage the creation of 300 handicraft firms within ten years, and increase the amount of micro-credit from about Euro 500 currently to Euro 2,700 by 2006. Douiri also criticized the poor organization and the old structures of the sector.
Moroccan handicraft sales yearly generated some Euro 990Mn. The authorities endeavor to increase this revenue to Euro 2.16Bn by 2015.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_social/measures_to_whip_up/view 
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30% of Moroccan children under 5 suffer from Anemia.
Rabat, Dec. 15

30% of Moroccan children under the age of 5 years suffer from anemia, revealed on Wednesday UNICEF Representative in Morocco, Maie Ayyoub. Speaking at the presentation of the 2006 report on children's situation in the world, Ayyoub said that 300,000 babies suffer from iodine deficiency, notably due to malnutrition and shortage of drinking water. She noted that 7% of Moroccan children under the age of 11 (250,000) are unschooled and 10% (60,000) are not vaccinated.

State Secretary in charge of Family, Children and Disabled, Yasmina Baddou noted that the government has set up an action plan to fight AIDS, promote a qualitative education and protect children against all forms of exploitation and violence. The government has also launched a project to build children protection units to follow up children victims of violence and exploitation, she noted. The project, baptized SAMU Social, also includes to offer judicial, listening, diagnosis and integration services.

Two pilot units will be operational starting early 2006 in Casablanca and Marrakech, targeting for the first six months children under 18 and girls under 25 living in the streets. The first project, worth USD 525,000, will allow persons living in the streets to benefit from free and professional medical, psychological and preventive care.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/30_of_moroccan_chil/view 
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Morocco launches national campaign against cancer.
Casablanca, Dec.13

Morocco launched Tuesday a week-long national campaign to sensitize against cancer on the topic "Do you know that breast, cervix, and lung cancers are the most spread in Morocco? Listen your body." The event, launched by "Association marocaine de lutte contre le cancer (AMLCC), aims at raising the awareness of citizen on precocious diagnosis to fight this disease, according to a communiqué of the Moroccan association to fight cancer which elaborated, four years ago, a home medical help program dubbed "AMAD" to allay the pains of cancer-stricken people.

According to the assessments of the International Center for Research on Cancer (CIRC), there are some 35,000 to 50,000 new cases of cancer per year in Morocco, including 1,000 to 1,500 among children. The most known cancers among men are those affecting lungs, cavum and prostate, while breast and cervix cancers strike women, and children suffer from leukaemia and lymphoma cancers.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/morocco_launches_nat/view 
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Morocco to prevent spread of AIDS in prison.
Rabat, Dec. 13

The prevention of the spread of AIDS in prisons and the launch of an awareness campaign to sensitize inmates and prisons' staff about this disease are the objectives of a convention signed, here Monday, between the Moroccan Ministry of Justice and the "Association de lutte contre le Sida" (ALCS). The convention provides for consolidating health services in prisons, integrating psychological support to AIDS-stricken prisoners and training prisons' staff on this disease.

Justice Minister, Mohamed Bouzoubaâ said that Moroccan prisons, which host some 80,000 persons per year, are exposed to AIDS, noting that two AIDS cases were detected in Moroccan prisons and that HIV positive prisoners represent 1%. He said that, part of the efforts to prevent AIDS, his department has set up a "listening center" in Casablanca for early screening among prisoners. The Moroccan second TV channel 2M organized, last Friday, a "Sidaction soirée" to raise fund to fight AIDS and help people affected by the disease. More than USD 2.5 million were collected during that special TV show part of an ongoing solidarity chain. According to figures released by the Moroccan Ministry of Health, 1,839 AIDS cases were recorded in November 2005, including 38% of women, compared to 1,557 in 2004
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/morocco_to_prevent_s/view 
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Morocco to gradually suppress subsidies to basic commodities.
Rabat, Dec. 13

The Moroccan government intends to gradually suppress subsidies to basic commodities that amount to over MAD10 billion (over USD 1.1 Bn). The subsidies system which is a "burden" to the State pushed the government to launch a process of "gradual and definitive" liberalization of subsidized products, announced Minister delegate in charge of Economic and general Affairs, Rachid Talbi Alami on Tuesday at the House of Advisors question-time. Subsidies to basic commodities include MAD4 billions (around USD440 Mn) to oil products, MAD3.9 billion to butane gas (around USD433 Mn), MAD2.2 billion (around USD 244 Mn) to sugar, and MAD39 million (around USD 4 Mn) to sunflower oil.
Alami recalled the successful liberalization of cooking oil that cost the State an annual subsidy of nearly two billion dirhams.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/morocco_to_gradually/view 
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Some 2,500 jobs created thanks to micro-credits, PM.
Rabat, Dec.15

Some 2,500 jobs have been created thanks to micro-credits, revealed, here Thursday, Prime Minister Driss Jettou in an address before king Mohammed VI who presided over the signing ceremony of a convention between the micro-credits Federation and the government.
During the meeting devoted to the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) pending projects, attended by several government members, Jettou said that some 575,000 people benefit, up to now, from Micro-credits for an amount of over USD 750 Mn, underlining that reimbursement rate exceeded some 99%.

The convention aims to attain a million recipients by the next five years and to cover in particular the regions targeted by INDH, Jettou said.
INDH, a far-reaching operation aimed at reducing social disparities and fighting exclusion, announced by the king on May 18, is designed to provide basic infrastructure to millions, from adequate housing and drinking water to health care and education. The first phase of INDH is divided into four programs, including two programs, namely fighting poverty in rural areas (targeting 360 rural communes) and fighting social exclusion in urban zones (targeting 250 impoverished urban neighborhoods). During the meeting, the Monarch exhorted the government to actively get involved in launching and inaugurating http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box5/some_2500_jobs_crea/view 
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WB Approves USD 260Mn loan to promote financial sector, rural water supply in Morocco.
Washington, Dec. 16

The World Bank (WB) Board of Directors approved, here Thursday, two loans totaling USD 260Mn to promote financial sector reform policies and to support rural water supply in Morocco. The first loan, worth USD 200Mn, was granted to foster the emergence of an efficient financial sector that better supports Morocco's development and growth objectives, promote an environment for financial intermediation and risk management, and boost the private sector's role and participation in the provision of financial services.
The project will especially seek to restructure specialized public financial institutions in handling their stock of non-performing assets and to bolster their role in the financial sector to support the efforts already undertaken by the authorities to reform the financial sector.
Another dimension to the new loan is that of improving the infrastructure, transparency, and integrity of the financial sector by modernizing payment systems, strengthening anti-money laundering and terrorism-financing measures, and enhancing the quality of financial information.
The second loan, which is a Specific Investment Loan worth USD 60Mn, aims to support the Moroccan government program to provide rural drinking water supply. Five priority provinces will be targeted in the project.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_economy/wb_approves_usd_260m/view 
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Forest fires consume over 6,000ha in 2005.
Rabat, Dec. 15

Fire consumed 6,198 ha of forests in Morocco, i.e. 0.07% of total national forests, said on Wednesday the High Commissioner for Water, Forests and Fighting Desertification (HCWFFD). These figures, which are beyond the annual average of fire forests (some 2,900ha), were mainly due to the fires that hit the forests of Larache (north) burning down some 2,466 ha in 16 fires.

The HCWFFD said that 662 fires ravaged national forests, i.e. an average of 9.4 ha per fire notably in the Rif region, Northern Morocco, where 4,190 ha were burnt down, i.e. 67% of the fire-stricken national forests. The second region is the North-West region with 790 ha (13%) and the Eastern region 677 ha (11%). Fire destroyed 8,660 ha of forests in Morocco (0.09% of total national forests) in 2004.

Fires take place every year, but their intensity is more important during summertime notably in the period June-October. The kingdom dedicates close to USD 20 million in the 2005 action plan for prevention, forests cleaning, sylviculture, surveillance and buying new equipments. Other departments are involved in this plan as the ministry of equipments contribute USD 2 million and local communities USD 2.5 million.
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89% of Moroccan villages to get electricity by end 2006.
Rabat, Dec. 13

89% of Moroccan villages will be connected to electricity by end of 2006, said Ahmed Nakkouch, CEO of the Moroccan Electricity Office (ONE).
Speaking at the ONE governing board chaired by Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou, Nakkouch noted that 4,500 villages will be provided by electricity in 2006, i.e. some 206,000 families and other 21,000 families through photovoltaic kits. Rural electrification rate will reach 81% by end of 2005 compared to 72% in 2004, he said, noting that some 4,000 villages will be provided by electricity, including other 490 villages through solar kits by end of 2005, i.e. some 216,000 rural families. Nakkouch said that ONE will invest USD 522 million by end of 2005 compared to USD 484 million in 2004. The meeting also touched on examining the 2006-2010 investment program, which is estimated at USD 4.2 billion.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/89_of_moroccan_vill/view 
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'Bribery in Morocco a cause for concern'.
12 December 2005 RABAT

Bribery in Morocco has caused a major concern after the country ranked 78th this year from its earlier listing of 45 in 1999, according to an anti-bribery international organisation. Eiz Eldin Aqsabi, secretary-general of Transparency Organisation, Morocco branch, told Reuters on the sidelines of an international symposium held here as part of the second international day for combating bribery that "we, as an organisation, registered a critical situation of the phenomenon of bribery in Morocco, as the menace was showing a continuous drop worldwide, but Morocco moved from place No. 45 in 1999 to 78 in 2005."

Aqsabi attributed the fall to the avoidance of punishment, non-independence of the judiciary and no enforcement of a clear strategy to combat the menace of bribery. The branch of the organisation in Morocco called for reforming the judiciary as well as taking strict measures in the field of control by activating the establishments entrusted with control, and awareness among the public on the risk of the phenomenon.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/December/middleeast_December309.xml&section=middleeast&col= 
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