Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
March 29, 2008

Morocco attracted US 4.5 billion FDI in 2007 .
Rabat, Mar. 27

Morocco attracted USD 4.5 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2007, Moroccan Industry, Trade and New Technology minister said on Wednesday. Speaking at the House of Representatives' Finance and Economic Development commission, Ahmed Chami said Morocco attracted some USD 13Bn investments over the period 2000-2006.

The surge in FDI was driven, according to the minister, by the government sectoral policies based on promoting investment through tax stimulus to investors. Mr. Chami pointed out that these policies are based on short and medium run strategies that aim to develop competitive sectors in order to ensure an optimal exploitation of national resources.

Morocco is the fifth attractive African country of FDIs. Kuwait is the first Arab country investing in Morocco with USD 137.5Mn, i.e. 3.86% of FDI in Morocco.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/morocco_attracted_us/view
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Moroccan airports go green.
Casablanca, Mar.27

Morocco aspires to develop green environment-friendly airports by using clean energy, especially the wind power, CEO of the Moroccan Office of Airports (ONDA) said. To achieve this challenge, Mr. Abdelhanin Benallou said ONDA is in the process of finalizing a "very important" project, worth some USD 39.4Mn, to supply airports with wind power, noting that, by virtue of this project, the totality of airport's electricity supply will be generated in the south of Morocco -probably in Essaouira- and sent to ONDA's network which will supply all Morocco's airports. The project, which provides for creating a wind plant with a production capacity of 10 to 20 MW, will enable the ONDA to reduce the energy costs by generating electricity from clean energy instead of coal and oil.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_economy/moroccan_airports_go/view
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moroccan American Bridges.
Marchs 25, 2008

In partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce, AMPA is proud to announce its 3rd Edition of Moroccan American Bridges, to be held in Casablanca May 5th - 7th 2008. The program and caliber of participants, speakers, and sponsors will mark yet another successful AMPA event in Morocco. AMPA membership, the largest since inception, will benefit from access to professionals from around the world with a common interest: MENA and the U.S. at crossroads.

The environment is promising. In the background of the U.S. economic slowdown, Morocco, and MENA in general, shows great potential as it continues reforms leading to a more robust development. Moroccans abroad continue to play a major role in this shift, as they are the bridge that continues to make Morocco an attractive and emerging destination.

Based on feedback from members, the business sessions will cover the following topics:

1) The Moroccan stock market and opportunities in the financial sector. Highlights of the 2008 Finance Law and the interest rate environment and how they can be of particular benefit to Moroccans abroad.

2) The economic potential of Moroccan/MENA professionals abroad and their impact on development.

3) The promotion of Moroccan and MENA products and services in the U.S.

4) Business opportunities linked to the U.S. government Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant to Morocco. A large pool of funds is potentially available to companies and professionals to conduct studies and projects. The ins and outs of the MCC grant.

Finally, The Young Moroccan Entrepreneurship Competition 3rd edition , organised in partnership with AIESEC , gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to turn innovative ideas into real businesses. Participants will develop business plans that are based on some of the most innovative ideas that would be feasible in Morocco. Aspiring entrepreneurs should enter plans in areas as diverse as but not limited to new technologies, tourism, computing services and software, consumer goods, and financial services. The YMEC provides a forum in which participants can develop and test their business vision and plans, develop their business ideas, and compete for cash prizes.
http://www.morocconewsline.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=400
------------------------------------------------------------

Bad weather hauls down economic growth to 2.1% in Q4 of 2007.
Rabat, Mar. 29

Unfavorable weather conditions have caused Moroccan economy growth to plummet to 2.1% in the last quarter of 2007, down from 8.1% during the same period of 2006, High Commissioner for Planning (HCP) said on Friday. The crop year, which had advanced 23.7% in the fourth quarter of 2006 over the previous year, made a negative progression of 19.4% in volume in quarter four of 2007, HCP said in its prospectus. A weak 6% evolution of the non agricultural activities in the north African kingdom could not play munch in favor of the overall growth of economic, which rests mainly on agriculture, and depends on rainfalls.

Except for mining and energetic activities, which advanced 1.8%, industrial activities progressed 4.7% in the said period, the document said, while the sectors of construction and public works, trade, accommodation and catering went up 10%, 4.8% and 12.8%, respectively. The prospectus also notes a 6.9% progress in the sector of transportation, adding that financial activities moved up 18.6%. The GDP, for its part, has augmented 2.8%, over the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the same source.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box4/bad_weather_hauls_do/view
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Moroccan exports to U.S. up 14% in 2007.
Rabat, Mar. 25

Morocco's exports to the United States stood at USD 625.9Mn in 2007 to register a 14.5% increase over 2006, according to figures revealed by the USAID during a meeting held Tuesday at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The U.S. Agency for International Development also said that 10 new Moroccan small and medium-size businesses were selected in 2007 by the New Business Opportunities (NBO) to export products to the U.S. These businesses, now totalling 74, are operating in the fields of textiles and clothing, leather, and the automotive industry. The figures were released at the second meeting of the steering committee of the NBO, a five-year program spreading from 2004 to 2008, set up to provide support to the Moroccan industrial sector and exporting services. Endowed with a budget of USD 9Mn, the NBO aims to beef up Moroccan exports and national investments, attract foreign direct investments, and reinforce public and private intermediary endeavouring to elaborate and set up support policies for the productive services.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/moroccan_exports_to_1/view
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Location, location, location: Ambassador seeks O.C. investors for Morocco.
March 27, 2008

Moroccan Ambassador Aziz Mekouar told Orange County business leaders on Wednesday that his country's location – with a comfortable climate that mirrors California's and easy access to European, African, and Gulf markets – makes it a prime spot for foreign investment. "We are used to hearing about investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia or Dubai, but we rarely hear about investment in Morocco," said Nizar Katbi, president of Irvine-based engineering and contracting firm FTR International.

In his presentation at the Irvine Chamber of Commerce, Mekouar highlighted Morocco's aggressive measures over the last decade to expand and modernize its economy, including extensive infrastructure improvements and the establishment of free trade agreements with the European Union and the United States. "If you produce something in Morocco, you can sell it duty free to the United States… [and]the European Union," Mekouar told the roughly 50 people in attendance.

Access to European consumers may be the most attractive aspect of doing business in Morocco, but Mekouar also stressed a growing domestic market with ample room to expand U.S-Morocco trade. "[Yearly]trade between Morocco and the United States is the same as one day trade between Canada and the United States. It's nothing," Mekouar said.

In 2007, U.S. exports to Morocco totaled $1.34 billion and imports were valued at $610 million, according to the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. In comparison, imports and exports with Canada, the United State's largest trade partner, totaled $249 billion and $313 billion respectively.

Among the sectors seeing the most growth is tourism and related real estate development. In addition to new high-end resorts and golf courses, residential projects are expanding as more and more Europeans are retiring to Morocco."Northern Morocco is becoming the Florida of Europe," Mekouar said.

Katbi, who first visited Morocco in 2004 and invited the ambassador to Irvine, said his company is currently working on a resort project in the country. He encouraged people to travel to Morocco to get a first hand taste of the exotic culture and business-friendly environment. "My concept of Morocco was locked into the 1942 film 'Casablanca' and the ambassador's presentation was an excellent window into modern Morocco," said Ed Benoe, chairman of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.

Following his presentation, Mekouar was whisked away for a private tour of the Irvine Spectrum and said he hoped to get in some local sightseeing before returning to the embassy in Washington, D.C. "Irvine is one of the most dynamic places in the United States," he said. RYAN RIVERA OC Register
http://www.morocconewsline.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=402
------------------------------------------------------------------

Fez to celebrate 1200th anniversary.
25/03/2008

The Moroccan city of Fez will kick off celebrations of the 1200th anniversary of its founding on April 5th with a grand musical performance at Bab Boujloud, organisers announced on Monday (March 24th). Festivities marking the ancient city's birth will take place in Marrakesh, Meknes and Rabat as well. Approximately 350 million dirhams have been set aside to fund the programme, which celebrates themes including "Fez: First capital of Morocco's regions", "Muslim Spirituality and Tolerance ", "Al-Qaraouiyine and the Religious Sciences" and "Women in History".
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2008/03/25/newsbrief-05
------------------------------------------------------------------

Social housing in Morocco: caught between criticism and satisfaction.
By Sarah Touahri  27/03/2008

A new study released this month in Morocco reveals the successes and failures of the country's social housing programme for low-income families. The housing ministry says that while there have been setbacks, the plan has performed well. More than 12 years after Morocco launched its social housing programme, a new study issued by the housing, urban development and environment ministry on March 13th indicates that many people are dissatisfied with their accommodation, particularly the small size of living space.

Housewife Hafida Belmadani has been living with her family of six in Salé Al Jadida for six years, in a flat measuring 56 square metres. "At the start, I was happy to be living in a flat of my own at long last. But I later realised that the home is too small for my family," she told Magharebia.

While social housing districts have certainly enabled many families to buy a home of their own, sociologist Jamal Debbaghi noted that great density has negatively affected quality of life for those living there. Debbaghi said these districts fail to encourage socio-economic diversity, given that the vast majority of residents are from the same social class. "There is a risk of negative consequences in the future. Social housing districts do not reflect characteristics seen at a national level, such as unemployment rates, for example. The ministry’s study has clearly highlighted this: there is a risk of them turning into ghettos," he explained.

Social housing recipients also complain that while the prices are supposed to be properly set and controlled to preserve the buying power of claimants, there is growing influence by the black market.

Samir Bourar said he was required to pay 40,000 dirhams above the price of his flat in Témara to a black market developer. "The advertisement shows one price but, in reality, you have to pay extra under the table. Officials must take action to look after the interests of the public," he said.

Private developers unanimously deny that such a practice exists.
Sixty percent of Morocco's 400,000 social housing has been built by the private sector. The State has brought in a list of exemptions for companies moving into the development of social housing, but they are obliged to fulfil three conditions: a minimum of 2,500 housing units built, with a period of five years between obtaining planning permission and the accommodation being signed off, and diversification of social programmes over several regions in Morocco.

Nevertheless, developers highlight some difficulties, particularly access to financial resources, which are becoming scarcer and therefore more expensive. They also complain of the 2,500-home threshold. New measures in the 2008 finance law have reduced taxes for social housing developers by 50% and may reduce the unit requirement from 2,500 to 1,500 in 2009. This year, there is also expected to be development of a new type of social housing in urban and rural areas, where for less than 140,000 dirhams a family with monthly income lower than 1.5 times the minimum wage will receive housing of 50 square metres or greater.

The data-rich study, designed to assess the social housing programme's strengths and weaknesses, indicates that despite the effort to cover 60 cities, Casablanca has clearly benefitted the most. More than 60% of buyers have bought housing at prices less than or equal to 200,000 DH, and 77 percent of accommodations were purchased by households where the monthly income is not more than 4,000 DH. The housing ministry maintains that while there are shortcomings, the housing programme has yielded benefits like 10,000 new jobs, the emergence of large private developers, and availability of housing for low-income families.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/03/27/feature-02
------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan loans Morocco over $220m for rural infrastructure development.
27/03/2008

The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) agreed Wednesday (March 26th) in Rabat to loan Morocco $222.7m to fund rural infrastructure projects, MAP reported. The first loan for $85.2m will fund the construction of 630km of roads in nine provinces: Tetuan, Chefchauen, Tangier, Sidi Kacem, Errachidia, Ouarzazate, Al Haouz, Settat and El Jadida. The second loan for $137.3m will be used to implement water purification projects. Japanese ambassador to Morocco Haruko Hirose estimated that with the two agreements, Japan's total development aid to Morocco has reached $2.18 billion.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/03/27/feature-02
------------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco mulls subsidies to halt food price inflation.
27/03/2008

The Moroccan government will take measures to halt the rise of staple food prices, regardless of global market prices, Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi said on Wednesday (March 26th). El Fassi added that the government would likely subsidise basic consumer goods out of the Compensation Fund that is expected to grow to approximately $4 billion by the end of the year. The move aims to address concerns about dwindling purchasing power. Rising food prices and an increasing cost of living have triggered a series of demonstrations throughout the country since September 2007. In February the public sector trade union representing approximately 150,000 civil servants threatened a 24-hour nationwide strike to demand compensation against inflation. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2008/03/27/newsbrief-02
------------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco plans training project in bid to lure offshore investors.
By Sarah Touahri 28/03/2008

Morocco sees its potential as a "magnet" for foreign companies. To maximise its appeal to investors and benefit young people who are working for the first time, Morocco will pay the full cost of training thousands of new "offshoring" employees in 12 work specialities. Many western companies have benefitted from cheaper labour costs by outsourcing work to foreign countries in a process known as "offshoring". To develop the offshoring sector and position the country as a premier destination for foreign businesses, Morocco plans a large-scale employee training programme to provide a ready supply of workers.

"This sector is at the heart of our interests, because it is bursting with development potential, due to the high demand for services which will come from European countries over the next ten years," Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi said after the first meeting of the new Offshoring Strategy Committee on Wednesday (March 19th). El Fassi, who chairs the committee comprised of government officials and business managing directors, added, "Morocco is a magnet for many companies who want to relocate."

The offshoring sector looks to play a big part in Morocco's goal of boosting GDP by more than 110 billion dirhams and creating 100,000 jobs by 2015. According to Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Reda Chami, a large number of international operators have already established bases in the country and signed memoranda of understanding with the Moroccan government.

Five regions are set to welcome offshoring workers: Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Fez and Marrakesh. In Casablanca and Rabat alone, some 35 companies have already signed leasing contracts. "We have made huge progress in this field," Chami said, adding that the foreign business influx has enabled the creation of 5,300 jobs.

In order to grow this sector, however, a large-scale training initiative is needed, said a member of the new offshoring committee. Mohammed Lasri, who manages a business park entirely dedicated to offshore investors, told Magharebia, "We must work on the human resources aspect, so that we can have highly-qualified personnel capable of keeping up with the work over the long term."

A national programme for offshoring employees plans to train 22,000 graduates by 2009 in 12 work specialities. The Office for Professional Training and Work Promotion (OFPPT), the National Agency for Promoting Employment and Skills (ANAPEC) and Moroccan universities will partner with the state for the training initiative. To benefit young people who are working for the first time, the state will pay the full cost of the training assistance programme. It could run as high as 65,000 dirhams per person over a period of three years.

Companies set up in the offshore zones will also benefit from a state contribution limiting the income tax burden for employees and total exemption from corporate tax for the first five years. Given the intense competition for offshore investment, these measures should put Morocco in a favourable position, officials say. Economist Majidi Abderrahim agrees that Morocco will certainly be competitive. He argued, however, that the government should widen application of the incentive proposals. "We must also think about rolling out these positive measures to other areas not set aside for offshoring, so that investment is consistent."
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/03/28/feature-01
------------------------------------------------------------------

Moroccan newspaper receives record fine for gay wedding mistake.
26/03/2008

One of Morocco's top newspapers received a record libel fine from a Rabat court on Tuesday (March 15th) for incorrectly reporting that an unnamed judge in the northern town of Ksar el Kebir attended a gay wedding party last November. International press reports say Al-Massae Editor-in-Chief Rachid Ninni must pay 1.5m dirhams to each of the town's four judges in addition to 120,000 dirhams as a fine to the state. AFP quoted Moroccan Journalists' Union President Younes M'jahed as saying that such a verdict is a "death sentence for the newspaper" because the amount is "unreal". Reuters quoted the newspaper's editor Tawfik Bouechrine as suggesting that such a heavy fine is in fact a punishment for the paper's aggressive reporting on corruption and human rights abuses. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2008/03/26/newsbrief-02
------------------------------------------------------------------

US auto parts company to bring 3,000 jobs to Morocco in 2008.
26/03/2008

A US manufacturer of electric and electronic systems for the car industry will increase the number of employees to 3, 441 at its site in the free trade zone of Tangiers, according to an agreement signed Monday (March 24th), Aujourd'hui Le Maroc reported. The main clients for the new 60-hectare Delphi Group plant will be Fiat, PSA, Renault and Opel.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2008/03/26/newsbrief-08
------------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco's National Library, U.S. Museum of Jewish Heritage seal agreement.
Rabat, Mar. 12

The National Library and the New York-based Museum of Jewish Heritage have agreed on Tuesday to exchange information and documents under an agreement signed in the Moroccan capital. The agreement also provides for developing technical cooperation, boosting inter-cultural and inter-religious dialog, according to the Moroccan national radio. The agreement is geared towards reinforcing the cultural exchange and sharing of technical know-how between the two institution, Driss Khrouz, director of the national library told the Radio.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage will thus have access to documents available in all universities and libraries across Morocco, he said, adding that the national library will contribute to digitising fundamental historical documents, magazines and papers. The signing ceremony took place in presence of king Mohammed VI Jewish advisor, André Azoulay, and the U.S. ambassador in Rabat, Thomas Riley. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/culture/morocco_s_national_l/view
----------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco aims to shift electricity output to 5,000 MGW in five years.
Oujda (east), Mar. 29

Morocco's strategy in the energy sector aims to hoist national production to 5,000 MGW during the upcoming five years to meet o the growing demand for energy, Minister of Energy and Mines, Amina Benkhadra said on Friday. The statement came after the launch, near the eastern city of Oujda, of the world's first combined cycle thermo-solar power plant, which will cost some USD 631Mn. The plant, due to open in mid 2009, will have an output capacity of 472 MGW, including 20 MGW from solar energy, and is expected to supply up to 8.5% of national energy production. The north African country has, a fortnight ago, launched the construction works of a thermal power plant due to provide the country with 27% of its electricity needs. The plant, which will adopt environment-friendly techniques, will cost USD 2.7Bn, and will have a capacity 1,320 MW.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box2/morocco_aims_to_shif/view
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tangier-Casablanca TGV to be operational by 2013 .
Tangier, Mar. 28

The high-speed rail "TGV" linking the northern city of Tangier and Casablanca will be operational by 2013, and is expected to carry 8 million passengers the first year, Director General of the State-owned railway company (ONCF) said on Thursday. Speaking at a meeting with operators to shed light on the company's projects in this region, Rabie Khlie pointed out that this TGV line will require a USD 2.7Bn investment. 18 TGV wagons are needed for this project that will contribute to reducing the duration of the trip between the two economic poles to 2h10 instead of 5h45 now, he said. The company will also engage some USD 755Mn investment in the northern region, including building a railway line between Tangier and Tangier-Med port (43km), improving the Tangier-Casablanca railway line and modernizing many train stations.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box3/tangier-casablanca_t/view
------------------------------------------------------------------

Japan lends Morocco 147m euros for road, water projects. -
Africa news Rabat, Morocco

The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has provided Morocco with two loans totalling 147 million euros to finance road and water supply projects. The first loan will finance the construction of 630 km of roads under the National Rural Roads Programme, while the second is earmarked for a water supply network in the northern and central provinces of Morocco, a diplomatic source said in Rabat.
JBIC loans to Morocco in the past 10 years, under public development aid, have grown to US$2.18 billion.
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/africa-news/78-africa-news/916-japan-lends-morocco-147m-euros-for-road-water-projects.html
------------------------------------------------------------------

Guilford Arabic students get to practice language in Morocco.
By RACHAEL SCARBOROUGH KING | New Haven Register . March 23, 2008 GUILFORD, Conn.

Students in Radouane Nasry's Arabic classes are back to the routine of school and homework, but recently some of them were visiting one of the largest mosques in the world and riding camels on the beach. Nasry took about a dozen students of French and Arabic to Morocco, his native country, during February break. They visited Casablanca, the "imperial cities" of Rabat, Marrakech and Fez, and the beachside resort Essaouira.

The trip was the suggestion of a student who went to Egypt with Nasry and other students last year. When the time came to plan another visit this year, senior Lindsay Rohr suggested Morocco."I really wanted to go, and it's hard to use the Arabic around here," Rohr, 18, said. "It's really hard to get practice." Because Moroccans speak Arabic and French, the trip was open to students of both languages. One of the high school's French teachers and her husband also acted as chaperones.

Nasry said he was somewhat wary about taking students to his home country, which he last visited in 2004. As it turned out, one of the first stops was at Nasry's mother's house in Casablanca, where she prepared them a meal of couscous. "I have not been a tourist in my country," he said. "I did not know how they were going to react, and they handled things wonderfully."

Both trips were planned through the school's Arabic Club, and did not have official school sponsorship. Nasry worked with student travel company EF Educational Tours to plan the itinerary. The trip cost about $2,500 each. One of the benefits of the visit, he said, was exposing the students to a Muslim country and culture with which they were not familiar."(It's) having things that would open the mind of these kids," Nasry said. "They need sometimes to get out of these walls."

Guilford High School was the only public school in the state to offer Arabic when Nasry, who also teaches French, started one class three years ago. Now, he leads two first-year and one second-year Arabic classes, as well as independent study for the students who have been learning the language since the first year. The elective class has been very popular so far. In its first year, 44 students signed up for one section, which had to be limited to about 30."It's a really good opportunity to get something that you really can't do in a lot of other places," sophomore Greg Demitrack said. "Plus, the teacher is awesome."

Senior Zach Bosson said he wants to pursue a career in international relations and is interested in colleges that have strong Arabic programs. He is enrolled in Nasry's second-year class and also does independent study in third-year Arabic."I'm applying to schools specifically to take Arabic and specifically to use it as a job," he said. "There's not a lot of even colleges that have majors in Arabic."

Sharon Jakubson, chairwoman of the high school's world languages department, said Arabic is one of the languages designated as "critical" by the U.S. State Department."There's a huge cry for people to be fluent in Arabic now, and colleges have been rushing to it as well as high schools," Jakubson said. "I think that it's important for a community like Guilford to offer something like Arabic because we have no diversity and our exposure to nonwestern cultures is so limited."

Arabic is still Guilford High School's smallest language program. The school also offers Spanish, French and Latin. Other foreign language students also take trips over February and April break, Jakubson said, but those vacations are also individually arranged and not school-sponsored. Those who went on the trip said they ended up speaking a mix of French, English and Arabic while in Morocco, which was formerly a French protectorate."I think more French was spoken on a conversational basis," Demitrack said. The students described the people they met as friendly, and they did not experience much anti-American sentiment. "One guy asked us if we supported Bush very aggressively," Bosson said. "I had to tell him in French, 'No, I don't like Bush."'

All the students said that they enjoyed their time in Essaouira, a city on Morocco's Atlantic coast, the most. There, they rode dromedaries or one-humped camels along the shoreline. "Of all the cities we went to, Essaouira was probably the most calm; it wasn't as crowded," senior Bart Weber said. And in class last week, the students had one question for Nasry: "Where are we going next year?"
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct-fea--moroccanadven0323mar23,0,3621803.story
------------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco: Potter v the Mayor of Casterbridge.
Fiona Duncan 24/03/2008
Comparing Morocco’s Kasbah Tamadot with Riad El Fenn is like comparing JK Rowling with Thomas Hardy, says Fiona Duncan. Both are enjoyable, but in different ways .

They're wised up these days, the hustlers in Jemaa el Fna, Marrakesh's magical, pulsating central square, where snake-charmers, acrobats, fortune-tellers, musicians and whirling dancers appear without fail each evening as the sun begins to set. At the same time, the food stalls and rows of numbered makeshift restaurants gear up for action, offering boiled sheeps' heads and steaming mounds of couscous. Each has a tout whose job it is to lure the visitors to their restaurant and no one else's. Sizing up their prey in a flash, they are adept at tailoring their imprecations to the types they see before them.

"English? English?" demanded one enthusiastic character, continuing, to our astonishment, with "Thomas Hardy, Mayor of Casterbridge, you like? Yes, am I right? You come this way, No 212". As we took the bait and meekly joined other captives at his trestle table, he changed his fly and deftly cast it at the next couple in view: "English? English? JK Rowling, Harry Potter, you like? Yes, am I right? Come this way, No 212".

Impressive, I call that. It's all about sizing up your customers, and giving them what they want. Which, I reflected, is just what Richard Branson and his sister Vanessa do at their Marrakesh hotels, Kasbah Tamadot and Riad El Fenn. I stayed at both, and they are as unalike, but no less enjoyable in their ways, as JK Rowling and Thomas Hardy.

And yet, though they are never marketed together (united only by sibling affection) these two properties complement one another perfectly as bases for an entertaining short break to Morocco: El Fenn is in the heart of the Marrakesh medina, while Tamadot stands in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, an hour's drive from the city. When the heat and dust, noise and pollution of Marrakesh becomes too much, it's heaven to slip away to the cool of the mountains.

Not that Riad El Fenn isn't a calm haven itself. No sign outside announces that this secretive front door is yours, but when the bell is answered you enter a shadowy sanctuary of deep red walls that leads to an intriguing series of leafy courtyards, quiet pools, narrow stairs and broad, plant-filled upper galleries draped with flowing white curtains.

There's show-stopping contemporary artwork on the walls, quirky furniture from the Fifties and Sixties, brightly coloured sunhats laid out on unobtrusive loungers, tiny tortoises pottering in beds planted with orange trees. There's a hammam, a screening room and an inviting, ochre-walled library.

You can email wirelessly from a shady ground floor courtyard, or stretch out on piles of Berber cushions on the roof terrace, with a plunge pool, a mini putting green and tables set in the shade for simple, delicious lunches of salad and fish.

Full of sleepy charm, El Fenn is one of those rare contemporary hotels that feels far older than its seven years, as if it's been a slightly raffish hangout for arty types for decades. The atmosphere, I'm sure, is thanks to the hotel's French manager, Frederic Scholl, who helped Vanessa to create the place; it's down to him, too, that the riad's roll-with-it vibe is underpinned by superb service, the like of which most five-star hotels boast about but rarely deliver.

When you wake, for example, you'll find a beaten silver tray outside your door with a flask each of tea and coffee, pottery bowls from which to drink them, and a dish of pastries to tied you over till breakfast.

But it's time to leave Marrakesh. Kasbah Tamadot, though it stands in a biblical landscape, is not, as we were expecting, an ancient construction, but was built in the 1930s by a powerful Lord of the Atlas as a combination of private home and public court.

When Richard Branson's mother, Eve, came across it the late 1990s, it was owned by an Italian antiques dealer. According to Brahim, who was "house manager" then and still is today, Eve chose breakfast time ("he's always most susceptible then") to persuade her son to buy the kasbah and turn it into a hotel. She succeeded, and it finally opened, with 18 guest rooms, in 2005, after 9/11 had delayed the project.

If Riad El Fenn is a dark ruby turned up amongst a heap of less precious stones, Tamadot is a showy sapphire gleaming in the dust. Its walls and turrets are the precise pinkish colour of the rugged landscape, yet it possesses an almost Disneyesque quality in its tamed perfection.

Mosaic courtyards, vast chandeliers, silver inlaid furniture, a marble indoor pool and magnificent outdoor infinity pool set in landscaped gardens give the hotel a glossy veneer quite different from its sibling, though (like Hardy and Rowling) no less enjoyable.

It took time to adjust. We arrived in the rain, but even through the mist, we could tell that the setting was spectacular, and in our lovely room we appreciated the toasty bed, complete with electric blanket for winter nights, the babouche slippers and pointy-hooded djellabas – and we noted straight away that all the staff, save the key managers, are from the surrounding villages.

By the time the sun had returned, we'd thoroughly settled in, made friends with other guests over cocktails, treked on mules to local Berber villages, been roughed up in the hammam and bicycled up the stunning valley almost as far as Imlil, at the foot of Toukbal, the highest mountain in North Africa.

Though we played tennis, we had no desire to use the gym and the spectacular views from its picture windows seems wasted on all those obnoxious machines. I'd get rid of them, and turn the room into a cosy den.

As the heat increased, the sapphire dazzled. Guests popped up on their private rooftop terraces and waved to one another from their eeries, while others stretched out around the pool. We sat on our turret and gazed at the timeless landscape, the village women washing clothes in the river, and the snow-capped mountains.

They say you are never more than a few yards away from Harry Potter these days, and sure enough, the macho bloke on the sunbed next to me was completely engrossed. "Never enjoyed a hotel more", he told me, and right at that moment, I could not disagree.

Neither Riad El Fenn nor Kasbah Tamadot are perfect – what hotel is? – but apart from the strange new dining room at the former and the slightly disappointing food in the latter, I would have a hard time laying down the law about which of the Branson siblings has the better one; only that, like Thomas Hardy and JK Rowling, they suit different people. And both suit me. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/africaandindianocean/morocco/939166/Morocco-Potter-v-the-Mayor-of-Casterbridge.html
------------------------------------------------------------------

Morocco, served up with confidence Four candid movies explore a complex country's thorniest issues. 
KATE TAYLOR March 29, 2008

When Moroccan filmmaker Hassan Benjelloun was a boy, he went out in the street one day to discover that half his neighbours had disappeared. Their doors were all shuttered. "I ran to my mother and asked, 'Why are the doors shut?' " he recalled in a recent interview, in French, from Casablanca. "She told me, 'They have all gone to Palestine.' It was the first time I had ever heard of Palestine."

The Jewish exodus from Morocco in the 1960s, which decimated an ancient community, and separated friends, neighbours and business partners, has rankled Benjelloun ever since. As Morocco became increasingly liberalized in the 1990s, the filmmaker worked his way through the sore spots of his country's recent history, making feature films about the brutal political repression of the 1970s and the subjugation of women.

Inevitably, he turned to the subject of the exodus. The result, surprisingly, is a bittersweet comedy entitled Où vas-tu Moshé? (Where Are You Going, Moshe?), a Moroccan-Canadian co-production. It is one of four Moroccan films in the French-language festival CinéFranco now under way in Toronto, and it will also enjoy a wider release in late April.

The film suggests that both the government of Morocco, independent since 1956, and the young state of Israel were complicit in getting all but a few thousand of Morocco's 260,000 Jews to immigrate clandestinely in the early 1960s. But its story focuses on the little people buffeted by forces larger than themselves: If all the Jews of Bejjad leave town, and the local council succeeds in its program of Islamification, poor Mustapha will lose his bar licence. Luckily for him, the old watchmaker and musician Shlomo can't make up his mind to go, and he soon finds himself courted by the devout and the drinkers alike.

The film portrays Moroccan Jews and Muslims living side by side, all speaking the mix of Arabic and French that is characteristic of North Africa. In one scene that surely owes much to Benjelloun's childhood memories, a young boy whose family is sneaking away at night runs back upstairs, bursts into the neighbouring apartment, and throws himself into the arms of the little Muslim friend from whom he cannot bear to be parted. "I wanted to remove the confusion of Jew and Zionist," says the filmmaker. "Today, if you say Jewish [in the Arab world], you mean Zionist. ... They were our friends and our neighbours."

If Benjelloun depicts a happy co-existence with which greater powers saw fit to meddle, his fellow filmmaker Mohamed Ismail is more inclined to believe there was prejudice in both communities. His treatment of the exodus is a family melodrama, Adieu mères (Goodbye Mothers), that shows anti-Semitism on the rise, and includes a Jewish-Muslim Romeo and Juliet who meet with disapproval on both sides.

On the other hand, that film's other central characters are the Jewish sawmill operator Henry and his Muslim partner, Brahim, who is tragically forced to keep a promise of eternal friendship when Henry drowns along with a boatload of other immigrants on their way to Israel. "I don't know any other Arab country where you could make a film like this, about tolerance and living together," said Ismail, from Casablanca, and also speaking in French.

"There is no censorship," he added, "but one practises self-censorship." He says his films are never cut or banned, but he thinks no Moroccan filmmaker would attempt a movie critical of Islam or of Morocco's monarchy, which is constitutional but does yield real power.

"One has to be careful how one says things," agrees Anne-Marie Gélinas, the Montrealer who is the Canadian co-producer of Where Are You Going, Moshe? She points out, for example, that Benjelloun was not permitted to call his film My Brother the Jew, the first title he suggested. That said, the Moroccan government is paying the filmmakers' way to Toronto to attend CinéFranco.

"Morocco can't approach globalization without resolving certain things in its memory, without looking into its history," Benjelloun says. That is precisely what various Moroccan filmmakers are doing, profiting from the relative openness of the current regime. The festival also includes the provocative drama Islamour (the title combines Islam and amour, French for love.) It's a new film from Saad Chraibi about a Moroccan émigré and his American wife who return to his homeland in the aftermath of Sept. 11 to discover that, although he suffered from racism in the West, they both encounter problems in the Arab world. Another film on the festival program is Les Jardins de Samira (Samira's Garden), an almost Dickensian tale in which a contemporary young woman agrees to marry a wealthy widower only to find herself trapped in domestic servitude. The film, by director Latif Lahlou, is intended as a critique of arranged marriage and the patriarchal nature of Moroccan society.

"I think Toronto audiences will be very surprised," CinéFranco artistic director Marcelle Lean said in French, remarking on the honesty with which these films tackle difficult issues. "They don't know this Morocco, so open, so sophisticated from a cultural point of view." Bringing the Moroccan films to Toronto was a pet project for Lean, whose parents were themselves Moroccan Jews who immigrated first to France and then to Canada. "These are films with a message of peace, of co-existence. And that impressed me and reflected the multiculturalism of my own life: Arab, Jewish, French and Canadian.... I feel at ease in Toronto because of the multicultural element, and I also saw it in these films."

Morocco's movie industry, which produces about 12 to 15 features a year (in comparison to Canada's 90 or so) is the third-largest in Africa after South Africa and Egypt. "We are very fashionable right now," says Benjelloun. "Film does not leave the public indifferent: It's a useful project."

The CinéFranco festival continues at The Royal Cinema, 608 College St., Toronto, until April 6. Samira's Garden screens tomorrow at 11 a.m.; Where Are You Going, Moshe? screens tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. and will open commercially across

Canada in April and May; Goodbye Mothers screens April 3 at 8:30 p.m.; Islamour screens April 5 at 3:30 p.m. For more information: 416-928-9794 or http://www.cinefranco.com.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080329.CINEFRANCO29/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Movies/
------------------------------------------------------------------

Backgrounder: Key facts about Morocco. 
2008-03-26 BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua)

Morocco nestles on the northwestern tip of Africa, bordered by Algeria to the east and Desert Sahara to the south. The Moroccan coastline fronts onto both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Across the Straits of Gibraltar, Spain is only a dozen kilometers away. The Islamic country has a population of some 30 million, mostly Arabs. Arabic is Morocco's national language, but French is also widely spoken. The capital city of Morocco is Rabat.

Morocco is not highly industrialized, and agriculture remains the major sector of its national economy, with about 44 percent ofits population being farmers. Agriculture accounts for some 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Morocco has rich phosphate deposits of some 110 billion tons, or 75 percent of the total world reserve. With a coastline of more than 1,700 km, Morocco is rich in fishery resources and is the largest fish-producing country in Africa. It is also the largest sardine exporter in the world, with sardine accounting for more than 70 percent of its fish products.

Morocco has many famous tourist attractions, revenue from tourism constitute a major foreign currency earner for the country. In 2007 it attracted 7.45 million tourists, bringing in 7.2 billion U.S. dollars. Capital city Rabat is noted for historical monuments in the kingdom. The ancient cities of Fez, Marrakesh and Casablanca are all well known tourist destinations frequented by visitors from all over the world.

Since China and Morocco formed diplomatic ties on Nov. 1, 1958, the two countries have maintained growing friendly contacts and frequent exchanges of high-level visits. Recent years have witnessed further strengthening of bilateral economic and cultural cooperation. In 2007, their two-way trade volume reached 2.584 billion U.S. dollars.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/26/content_7863961.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------

Pig farms bloom in Muslim Morocco thanks to tourism.
AGADIR, Morocco, March 25, 2008 (AFP)

Shunned by most Muslim countries where pork consumption is a religious taboo, pig farming is blooming in Morocco thanks to a growing tourist industry and pragmatic breeders like 39-year-old Said Samouk. 'If there's tourism, it would be better to have pigs,' said Samouk, who raises 250 pigs at his farm 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the seaside town of Agadir.

After being battered by a wave of bird flu, the Moroccan farmer launched a pig operation 20 years ago in partnership with an elderly French man.

Today, Samouk spins dreams of doubling his production within three years to help meet the demands of some 10 million tourists expected to visit Morocco in 2010 -- up from 7.5 million who flocked to the north African country in 2007. 'I'm a practising Muslim. I don't eat pork and I don't drink alcohol but it's just a breeding operation like any other and no Imam has ever reprimanded me for it,' he said of raising pigs -- whose consumption is prohibited in both Islam and Judaism.

Outlawed in Algeria, Mauritania and Libya, pig farming is nonetheless authorised in Tunisia as in Morocco, to cater to the flocks of European and other non-Muslim tourists who head to north Africa's spectacular beaches and deserts.

'Our clientele is 98 percent European. They want bacon for breakfast, ham for lunch and pork chops for dinner,' said Ahmad Bartoul, a buyer for a large Agadir hotel. Signs are posted on buffet tables to avoid any confusion about the meat's origin.

Morocco's swine industry comprises some 5,000 pigs raised on seven farms located near Agadir, Casablanca and the north-central city of Taza. The breeders include a Christian, two Jews and four Muslims. Annual production is currently estimated at 270 tonnes of meat, bringing in some 12 million dirhams (1 million euros, 1.6 million dollars) in revenue.

The breeders include Jean Yves Yoel Chriquia, a 32-year-old Jew who owns the country's main pork processing factory along with a farm of 1,000 pigs. Chriquia also buys pigs from Samouk and another local farmer at 22 dirhams a kilo. Four times a month, he goes to the slaughter house in Agadir -- but must enter from a door other than that used for deliveries of meat that is Halal, or authorised under Islam. 'We have a special place for this sort of slaughter. After cutting up the meat and getting the veterinarian's stamp, we transport it to the factory and put it in cold storage,' Yoel said.

Almost 80 percent of his products are earmarked for hotels in Agadir and Marrakech. The rest heads to supermarkets and butcher shops -- and to feed some 220 Chinese workers building a nearby motorway.

'My wife was certain we would never find pork because we were in a Muslim country,' said French retiree Bernard Samoyeau, as he ordered pork at from a butcher in Agadir. 'We have been pleasantly surprised.' Yoel is also pleased. 'We have more than doubled our sales in three years and it's starting to snowball. But since we rely on tourism, we must be careful,' he said.

The Moroccan farmer speaks from experience: the 1990 Gulf war, the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and the 2003 invasion of Iraq ultimately forced him to shutter his last business burdened by 2.8 million dirhams of unpaid bills. Three years ago, he opened up a new company that employs 31 people. 'Hotels all over Morocco are calling me up for deliveries, but for the time being I can't respond to all the demands. We're getting there, little by little,' Yoel said. Nor does he see a conflict between his job and his Jewish faith. 'Religion is a private matter. What I do is just another way to earn a living and my Rabbi has never said anything about it,' he said.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=14323&ccid=18
##########################################################

These postings are provided without permission of the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the identified copyright owner.  The poster does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the message, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.