FOM Newsletter May 2002
Morocco Week in Review May 11, 2002 

A new iron-rich flour will be marketed in Morocco shortly, part of a healthcare strategy aiming to eradicate diseases caused by deficiencies of micro-nutriments (vitamin A, iron and iodine). The convention on flour  enriching was signed in Rabat Tuesday by health minister, Thami El Khyari and president of the Moroccan Flour Mills Federation (FNM), Ahmed Bouaida.  The minister said the move is part of efforts to eradicate food deficiencies by enriching high consumption products such as salt, flour, oil, butter, and milk, in partnership with the relevant institutions. The marketing of the new flour, as well as other enriched products, will be preceded by a media promotion campaign.

The European Union granted Morocco a US $6.5 Mln donation to support an anti-erosion project in Demnate (Azilal province, in the High Atlas Mountains area). The donation, part of the Morocco-EU cooperation protocol, aims at backing Morocco's efforts to fight poverty and protect environment. The project, worth $ 7.5 million and extending over 126,000 hectares between Hassan I and Sidi Driss dams, will benefit some 75,000 inhabitants. It will back agricultural production and improve the rural populations' living standards.

A Maghreban drought and desertification fighting observatory will be set up shortly. The announcement was made by a workgroup that was meeting Wednesday at the headquarters of the Rabat-based secretariat general of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA). The observatory will follow up in a scientific way the environment in the Maghreb, scrutinize the effects of drought and propose measures to reduce the consequences of drought and desertification. The experts also probed means of fostering coordination between Maghreban states to draw maximum benefits from national, regional and international experiences in the field. The specialized inter-ministerial commission in charge of food security had called at its 11th session, held in Algiers last January, to set up the observatory.

Rabat is hosting May 6-11 an international conference on the Mediterranean forest ecosystems.  The scientific event, which opened Monday, aims to assess the research conducted on insects damaging Mediterranean forest trees like cedar, cork oak, Eucalyptus, pine and cypress, and the main cross-country aspects of the Mediterranean ecosystem, such as bio-diversity and the consequences of climate change. The meeting will also set up a network for entomological research on ecosystems. The conference is held by the ministry in charge of water and forests, in cooperation with the Moroccan Institute of Agronomic Research and Orleans-France University, under the aegis of the International Union of Forest Research Organisms (IUFRO). Eminent researchers from 15 countries are taking part in the event.

Rabat is playing host to the 11th international electronics Forum "Electronics 2002," devoted this year to the semi-conductors industry.  Opening the forum this Monday, Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi said the semi-conductors industry in Morocco is witnessing a promising development and contributes to the promotion of exports and to the improvement of the competitiveness of the economic fabric. This industry has scored since 1996 an average annual growth of 30 percent and the sector's production exceeded 1.5 billion Dirhams (nearly US$ 130.43 million) in 2000, Youssoufi said, adding that investments in the sector are also continuously growing and that sector's potentials are confirmed by the presence in Morocco of outstanding international companies and world-known sub-contractors. He said that the Moroccan government has set out incentives, with the backing of the Hassan II fund for economic and social development, to attract more enterprises operating in the sector and that over the past 4 years, Morocco has gained over $ 7 billion worth of foreign investments. In 2001 alone, foreign investments reached the unprecedented level of $3 billion, he said.  Morocco's commitment to promote investments was crowned by the royal letter of last January wherein King Mohammed VI gave instructions to decentralize investment management and ease administrative procedures through the setting up of regional investment centers, Youssoufi recalled, before surveying the drives made to encourage the private initiative and upgrade the competitiveness of the Moroccan production fabric and to prepare the country enter the new millenium. The forum is sponsored by the company Futurs Horizons and theMoroccan-American council for trade and investment.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who is on a visit to the USA, received on Tuesday at his residence in New York former US president William Jefferson Clinton. The meeting covered international issues, the situation in the middle east and ongoing efforts to find a political way out to the present crisis.  The sovereign extended to the former US chief executive an invitation to visit Morocco. Following the visit, Clinton hailed the pioneer role played by the Moroccan king in favor of peace in the middle east. He told reporters he held a "very useful" meeting with the king and expressed him gratitude for sustained efforts for peace in the middle east and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Al Quds (Jerusalem) as capital of two countries (Palestine and Israel). Clinton applauded reforms in Morocco leading to the emergence of a plural society, democratic institutions and non-governmental organizations. This is very impressive, he stressed.

Morocco is making substantial efforts to reduce child labor and is, as such, an example in the Arab states, said on Monday Malak Benchekroun, from the Rabat's office of the International Labor Office. Speaking at a ceremony marking the launching in Europe of the ILO world report on child labor, Benchekroun who is in charge of several Belgium and France-financed projects conducted in Morocco said several initiatives are taken by the government, international non-governmental organizations and local associations. She cited the program to control child labor launched last June on the basis of findings of a nationwide survey that is directed at the immediate end of worst forms of child labor that threaten children's health, safety and morality. The program also seeks to prevent early labor, eradicate dangerous jobs and give to children and their families viable alternatives. The program, she explained, targeted most vulnerable children aged below 12. ILO said in its report some 246 million children worldwide are undertaking work that should be abolished. The report launching ceremony took part in the presence of Princess Mathilde, spouse of crown prince Albert of Belgium, Belgian employment minister, Laurette Onkelix, European commissioner in charge of labor and social affairs and several executives from the ILO.

Morocco has become one of the largest recipients of foreign direct investments in the Mediterranean basin, thanks to its openness on Europe, the ratification of World Trade Organization (WHO) agreements, and its projected free trade zone with several Arab countries, Morocco's ambassador to France, Hassan Abouyoub, said. The Moroccan diplomat made the statement during a forum on "investing in Morocco," organized part of the first France-Maghreb convention held here May 6-7. The convention, which aims at "a more humane, more ambitious economic and social framework" for relations between France on one side, and Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia on the other, features forums, workshops and round tables on human resources and young entrepreneurs. It also aims at assessing the economic, social, political and cultural conditions of the France-settled Maghreban population. Director of foreign investments department at the ministry of economy and finance, Hassan Bernoussi, said foreign direct investments conducted in Morocco exceeded $3 billion in 2001, thanks to a set of juridical measures and fiscal and customs incentives. Bernoussi said the recently created Regional Investment Desks mean to decentralize and simplify investment procedures, encourage enterprise creation and support investors. A participants from the Hassan II Foundation for Moroccan Expatriates Speaking of the role played by, an executive from the foundation said this institution has processed some 1,500 investment files submitted by Moroccan expatriates. It has also trained consultants to help them carry out their projects, and inform them on the evolution of Morocco's investment policy. Amina Naji, a Paris-based attorney and legal advisor for several French companies operating in Morocco, spoke about legal guarantees provided for investors in Morocco, citing in particular the trade courts set up in 1998 to settle commercial disputes, regulate relationships between investors and the administration and guarantee the foreign investors' interests.

The Casablanca handicraft chamber and the craftsmen chamber of the French southern region of Gironde signed on Monday a partnership convention. The convention, signed on the margins of the international fair of Bordeaux, is part of the 1988 twinning act binding Casablanca and Bordeaux and the cooperation protocol signed between the two chambers in 1989. Casablanca craftsmen will be undergoing training sessions in France while peers from Gironde wishing to specialize in some Moroccan craftsmanship will also be given the opportunity to improve their skills.

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