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Environment
degradation costs Morocco 1.73bn US dollars annually.
Morocco,
US Sign Cooperation Accord on Renewable Energies.
Morocco, US to develop
'clean' energy sources
US, Morocco seriously consider
FTA.
Morocco sees GDP growth
at 4.5 pct in 2003.
Essaouira
Third Gnaoua and World Music Festival June 13-16.
Environment degradation costs Morocco 1.73bn US dollars annually.
June 5, 2002
Environment degradation costs Morocco an annual 20bn Moroccan dirhams (nearly 1.73bn US
dollars), including 15bn dirhams (1.3bn dollars) resulting from water pollution, says the Moroccan drinking water authority (ONEP). ONEP said it has crafted an intervention programme worth 14.7bn dirhams (1.27bn dollars) to be carried out by 2016 to have a better visibility and a better planning of its actions. The program will benefit 4.5 million inhabitants nationwide. The programme is meant to make for the delay in sanitation compared to drinking water supply in urban areas and adopt an integrated approach in any new drinking water supply action by taking into account sanitation aspects. ONEP says however this program needs a nationwide unified pricing for small and medium-sized cities, state's subsidies and participation of large cities in efforts conducted for smaller ones.Source: MAP news agency web site, Rabat, in English 5 Jun 02 /© BBC Monitoring
Copyright 2002. All Rights Reserved
http://hoovnews.hoovers.com/fp.asp?layout=displaynews&doc_id=NR20020605670.2_c4d9000191a42e3d
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Morocco, US Sign Cooperation Accord on Renewable Energies.
CASABLANCA, June 04 - Morocco and the United States signed here on Monday an agreement on the consolidation of their cooperation in matters of renewable energies.The agreement provides for technical cooperation, staff training, investment, exchange of expertise between specialized centers in the two countries and technology transfer. Under the agreement, that is an addendum to the framework convention signed in October 2000 between the two countries' energy departments, the two sides will work to promote renewable energies in Morocco, mainly wind and solar energy, give incentives to private investments in the field and encourage the use of new technologies in the
frame of sustained development promotion. The agreement was initialed by Moroccan minister of industry, trade, energy and mining, Mustapha Mansouri, and US secretary of energy, Spencer Abraham, on the sidelines of the 3rd Africa-US ministerial conference on the promotion of energy partnership held here this June 3-4. © MAP 2002http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h_dep14.htm
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Morocco, US to develop 'clean' energy sources
Agence France-Presse ( June 04, 2002 )
CASABLANCA, Morocco, June 4 (AFP) - Morocco and the United States have signed a convention here to develop sources of 'clean' energy, the MAP news agency said Tuesday. The convention, signed late Monday by Energy and Mining Minister Mustapha Mansouri and US Energy Secretary Abraham Spencer, will facilitate technology transfers and information sharing between the two countries, with a view to developing clean sources of energy in Morocco, notably wind and solar energy. Morocco already has a large windfarm, capable of generating 50 megawatts of power, in its northern Tetouan region. It has just launched a project to build a 140-megawatt capacity windfarm in Tangiers, also in the north, and a third windfarm is planned for Tarfaya, in the south, with a 60-megawatt capacity. One megawatt is enough electric energy to meet the needs of approximately 1, 000 households in an industrialised country. Solar energy is also widely used to supply power in the north African country's rural areas. Spencer was in Casablanca for a meeting on energy partnerships between government representatives from the US and Africa.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
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US, Morocco seriously consider FTA.
June 2002
The United States has a wide array of assets at its disposal with which it can tempt its allies into remaining firmly within the anti-terrorism camp. But perhaps the most dazzling of all these is access to one of the biggest, and certainly the most consumer-driven, markets in the world. Egypt has long hoped to score a no-holds-barred free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States -- an elusive prize that, to date, has only been acquired by Israel (1985), NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico (1992), and, most recently, Jordan (approved by Congress in 2001).
While it is well known that US FTA negotiations have been held with Chile and Singapore, it now appears that Morocco too may soon have one. "Today, I've informed His Majesty that our government will work to enact a free-trade agreement with Morocco," said US president George Bush on April 23, during a meeting with King Mohamed VI of Morocco at the White House. "It's in our nation's interest that we do so. His Majesty believes it's in his nation's interest that we have a free-trade agreement as well." The president topped his remarks by urging the US Senate to grant him "fast track" trade promotion authority, which would allow him to ratify free-trade agreements with a simple majority from Congress.
Following congressional approval, an FTA would phase out tariffs on Moroccan goods entering the United States and award American exports preferential treatment in Morocco. Over the past six years, US exports to Morocco have averaged an annual $475 million, with leading exports including aircraft, corn and machinery. In 2000, the United States exported goods to Morocco totaling over $525 million, although in 2001, this figure fell to $286 million.
Morocco, for its part, exported $456 million worth of goods to the United States in 2000, a figure which dropped only slightly to $450 million in 2001. These exports consisted mostly of transistors, semiconductors, phosphates and other minerals. According to the US State Department, Morocco's total exports are about $7.4 billion a year, and its largest trading partner has remained the European Union. Additionally, Morocco was selected by the US Trade & Development Agency as Country of the Year for 2001, despite the fact that economic growth has been relatively slow, mainly as a result of the economy's reliance on the agriculture sector.
The Moroccans are just as keen to clinch the prize. "With respect to the free-trade zone which you have just announced, Mr. President," replied the king, according to an April 23 White House press release, "...We will work closely with your collaborators, in particular, Mr. [US trade representative Robert] Zoellick, who I have met twice and who will be visiting Morocco... We will work very closely in order to bring about the democratization of this program of cooperation and friendship between the United States and Morocco."
Two days later, the news was splashed across the headlines of Moroccan daily Le Matin: "Free-trade agreement between Morocco and the United States -- Washington's second trade pact
with an Arab country." As for Zoellick (well known in Egypt for his occasional tantalizing references to future US-Egypt FTA possibilities), it wouldn't be his first trip to the kingdom. He was there on January 22,when he talked bilateral trade with Moroccan minister of foreign affairs & cooperation Mohamed Benaissa. "King Mohamed has made economic reform and the establishment of a secure and attractive investment climate a priority of his government," Zoellick raved at the time. Hinting at US strategic considerations lurking behind the free-trade talk, he added, "Morocco has been a strong supporter of the United States' fight against terrorism following the tragedies of September 11, and I look forward to discussing ways to deepen our economic relationship." Nevertheless, Zoellick emphasized that no decision had been made and that discussions were still at an early stage.Speaking at a February 18 American Chamber of Commerce lunch-debate in Casablanca, US assistant secretary of commerce Maria Cino said it was vital that the two countries work toward a free-trade agreement, as an increasing number of US firms were looking to export in response to a saturated domestic market. Those companies were looking for joint ventures and partnerships that would create jobs in the United States. "Exports are responsible for 12 million jobs in the United States, and those jobs pay up to 18 percent more than the national average," Cino said, according to the February issue of Communiqué, AmCham-Morocco's monthly newsletter.
The subject came up again less than two weeks after the launch of Israel's punishing military campaign in the West Bank, as "moderate" Arab countries urged the United States to restrain
Israel. King Mohamed's displeasure was no secret. On April 10, Catherine Novelli, assistant to the US trade secretary in charge of Europe and the Mediterranean, traveled to Morocco on a follow-up mission to the Zoellick visit. "The USA is determined to go ahead with developing a mutually advantageous economic partnership with Morocco," Novelli told the press in Rabat, "and to back the efforts made by Morocco in matters of economic reforms."So will the US-Morocco FTA ever make it out of the realm of the purely theoretical? Like Egypt, Morocco has been working with the United States since 1995 under a bilateral Trade & Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which aims to promote closer economic ties and freer trade.
According to an April 23 US-Morocco trade "backgrounder" distributed by the US State Department, the Moroccan government has undertaken a strong economic reform program that has
included the liberalization of the telecommunications sector and an ambitious plan to develop the Moroccan tourism sector with the aid of outside investment. In addition, the government received plaudits for streamlining investment procedures and eliminating barriers to foreign and domestic investment in the local economy. As a member of GATT (General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs), Morocco has gradually removed most restrictions on imports originating from other member countries, while, in recent years, export regulations too have undergone substantial liberalization.The proposed FTA would "support Morocco's commitment to transparency, openness and the rule of law, and would include increased protection for intellectual property and specific provisions to encourage the development of e-commerce," according to the backgrounder. "An FTA would also support Morocco's efforts on environmental protection and labor, including the expansion of employment opportunities."
The United States is also concerned about competition from the EU, especially in light of the Association Agreement it has with several of its Mediterranean neighbors. "Morocco," warned the backgrounder, "has begun implementing an Association Agreement with the EU, which provides preferential tariff treatment for EU industrial exports to Morocco, putting American producers at a competitive disadvantage." It's indisputable that the EU dominates North Africa trade-wise. More than half of Morocco's and Tunisia's external trade, and 35 percent of Egypt's trade, is with the EU.
Mohamed VI has spearheaded his own free-trade effort a little closer to home, which was initiated in the Moroccan holiday resort of Agadir in May last year, when Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia agreed to set up a free-trade zone. An FTA between the four countries was signed -- the "Agadir Declaration" -- after experts from the respective nations met in Tunis at the end of March. The Moroccan government has said that the zone would be "open to other Arab countries," according to an April 1 report from Africa Online News.
The free-trade zone will be an addition to the large number of free-trade agreements in the area, including the trade agreements these countries have with the European Union.
Adam Morrow
© Business Monthly 2002
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Morocco sees GDP growth at 4.5 pct in 2003.
RABAT, June 5 (Reuters) - The Moroccan government expects economic growth of 4.5 percent in 2003, about the same as this year, a government official said on Wednesday. Gross Domestic Product growth in 2002 is expected be 4.4 percent, down from 6.5 percent in 2001, the official said, quoting a brief statement released after a Cabinet meeting. GDP is estimated at 412.8 billion dirhams ($37.2 billion) this year. The Cabinet, headed by Socialist Prime Minister Abderrahmane El Youssoufi, said the inflation rate is expected to drop to 2.0 percent in 2003 from 2.5 percent in 2002. The figures were the first preliminary estimates for the 2003 budget, which the Finance Ministry is preparing before its adoption by the Cabinet later this year, the official added.
(-Ali Bouzerda, Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com)
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Essaouira Third Gnaoua and World Music Festival June 13-16.
RABAT, June 07- The third Gnaoua and World Music Festival will be held in the Moroccan Atlantic city of Essaouira this June 13-16. The Festival gathers modern musicians from the five continents, with roots in jazz, rock, pop and contemporary world music. By melding a variety of styles with the Gnaoua tradition, the Essaouira Gnaoua and World Music Festival is a ground for encounters, exchange and musical fusion. Beyond the rhythms of world music, the event features many other cultural events, such as conferences, debates, art exhibits, literature and poetry, with the participation of Moroccan and foreign academics. Since it was first created in 1998, the Essaouira Festival has earned increasing renown among international musicians and an ever-growing amateur audience. More information on the festival program and artists and the Moroccan Gnaoua culture can be accessed online at "http://www.festival-gnaoua.co.ma."
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h_dep02.htm
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