FOM Newsletter September 2002
Morocco Week in Review September 14 2002 

RABAT, Sep.09 - The American Embassy in Morocco will commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks by having a bell chime once every minute for 18 minutes. According to a release of the embassy, the ringing will begin at 12:58 PM the time when the first airplane hit the World Trade Center and ending at 13:16 PM when the second airplane hit.As all Americans in Morocco pause, reflect, and remember, we are grateful for the genuine outpouring of sympathy that we received from His Majesty King Mohammed IV, Prime Minister Youssoufi, the leadership of the Moroccan Government, the heads of the political parties, the NGO community, the Unions, the Moroccan Jewish community and most especially the Moroccan people", says the US ambassador to Morocco, Margaret Tutwiler, in a message. "On behalf of President Bush, I would like to take this moment to thank every Moroccan for their kind words, deeds, and acts during that very painful and difficult time. I know that all Moroccans join all Americans in praying that none of us, regardless of nationality, culture, religion, or race ever witness a tragedy like this again", she said. "As we remember the individuals from more than 90 nations who lost their lives and the families who had their lives shattered, let us renew our commitment to defeat terrorism and to build a better future for all people", she goes on. © MAP 2002

RABAT- Moroccan education minister, Abdallah Saaf, said he expected school enrollment to range between 95 and 100% of all children in schooling age (6 years) nationwide for the 2002-2003 school year. In the most pessimistic forecasts, the national schooling rate of 6-year-old children will stand at 95%, he added stressing that Morocco is for the first time exceeding the percentage of 90% or 4 million children. He went on that the schooling of 6 year-olds was not central in the government's schooling generalization policy which used to focus on children aged 7 until the 1998-1999 school year which marked the starting point for this new action. Schooling indicators have considerably improved between the 1997-1998 and the 2001-2001 school years, from 37% to 91% of six-year old children, he said, while in rural areas the schooling of children aged between 6 and 11 went up from 55% to 84% and from 37% to 44% for girls. In order to receive the new enrolled children, a total of 3,100 additional classrooms will be made available and 7,000 teachers will be hired, he announced. © MAP 2001

RABAT, Sep.13 - H.M. King Mohammed VI, who was accompanied by Prince Moulay Rachid, launched on Friday the 2002-2003 school year at the "Place des Chouhada" School in Rabat. H.M. the king visited the classrooms of the school, considered as one of the oldest education institutions of the capital. Set up in 1948, Place des Chouhada School receives 476 pupils with 18 classrooms and 19 teachers. The sovereign was informed on the 2002-2003 comeback which concerns a total of 707,000 newly-enrolled pupils, which is a 5% rise in comparison with last year. The number of pupils enrolled in public schools in rural areas reached 413,987, scoring a 7% rise in comparison with last year while in cities, the number of newly-enrolled pupils grew by 3%.

Operation Open Eyes: Swiss Foundation Althea Prepares Mission to Moroccan Southern Cities.

GENEVA, Sep.09 - The Swiss humanitarian foundation Althea is preparing for an ophthalmologic mission to be carried out September 29-October 08 in the Moroccan southern cities of Guelmim and Assa. The mission will perform surgery on some 500 persons risking blindness, out of 1,700 who were examined during the first mission organized March 10-23. The foundation undertook to bring a Moroccan girl to Geneva and operate her on the left eye. She was affected by a blinding disease. © MAP 2001

Saturday, 14 September, 2002, By Stephanie Irvine BBC's correspondent in Rabat

Campaigning has begun in Morocco for parliamentary elections to be held in two weeks time. A dizzying array of 26 parties will be standing, ranging from former Marxist revolutionaries to the one legal Islamist party. The authorities know their biggest challenge will be to combat voter apathy in a country where parliament has limited power. The king appoints the most important government ministers, and the king and his advisors still make all the major decisions in the country. These will be the first general elections since King Mohammed VI came to the throne in 1999, bringing hopes of a new era of openness and democracy in the country.

Changing image

Elections in Morocco do not have a very good reputation. Most people here believe that results have always been falsified by a combination of local level corruption and high level interference. Referenda proposed by late King Hassan, for example, would often received an unlikely 99% approval rating. Morocco now wants to change that perception - it is especially keen to appear more democratic to the outside world to attract desperately needed foreign investments. A lot of measures have been introduced to try to prevent corruption including prison sentences for candidates caught buying votes. Other innovations include a new voting system of proportional representation and a national list reserved for female candidates to ensure that at least 10% of new MPs are women.

The second international Business and Finance forum and fair will be held in Casablanca May 13-15, 2003. The event aims to foster inter-Arab and international investment in Morocco, organizers said at the news briefing in Casablanca Thursday. Morocco was chosen as a venue to the forum for its political, economic and monetary stability, they said. The previous business and finance forum was held in Dubai, at the initiative of the UAE-based company Atlala.

Morocco's Hard Currency Reserves, Expatriates Remittances, Tourism Receipts Up

RABAT, Sept.06 - Morocco's hard currency reserves went up from 83.8 billion Dirhams (US$7.98 billion) on July 31, 2001 to 98.94 billion Dirhams (US$ 9.42 billion) on the same date in 2002, scoring a 18.1% rise, the exchange office said.  These reserves represent the equivalent of 11 months of imports, compared to 10 months worth of imports by end of 2001. Moroccan expatriates' remittances scored a 54.1% increase in comparison with last year, reaching 20.11 billion Dirhams (US$ 1.91 billion). The country's tourism receipts also scored a rise of 5.4% during the January-July 2002 period, to reach 11.20 billion Dirhams (US$ 1.06 billion). The average receipts during the same period calculated over five years are assessed at 10.62 billion Dirhams (US$ 1.01 billion). However, the receipts of foreign investments and foreign loans decreased from 28.94 billion Dirhams (US$ 2.74 billion) to 3.06 billion Dirhams (US$ 0.29 billion), which is a 98.4% drop, the exchange office said. © MAP 2002

The university of Leipzig (Germany) is keeping a unique four-century-old Moroccan manuscript by Morocco's writer and geographer Taib Chergui Smili. The book relates Smili's journey to Mecca, describing geographical sites and the cities and villages he crossed. He also makes suggestions for a better organization of the pilgrimage. Taib Chergui Smili, who studied in Fez, was a contemporary of Sultan Mohammed III

Morocco-France sign agreement on set up of innovative projects

Morocco and France signed Monday an agreement on the set up of a joint fund for innovative projects, especially in the field of telecoms. The agreement was signed between the Moroccan state-owned Caisse Marocaine de Depots et de Gestion (CDG) and French Caisse fran¨aise de depots et de consignations (CDC). The fund will finance engineering, new information technologies and telecoms projects, as well as new services and products offered for the first time by young enterprises in Morocco

GENEVA, Sep.11 - More than one million Moroccan nationals are legally settled in the 15 Member States of the European Union, and many more live and work there, without valid documents, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a report published Tuesday. "While the countries north of the Mediterranean Basin need labour immigrants, those striving to cross from the southern shores vastly outnumber any of the available legal opportunities to migrate. This plays into the hands of smugglers and traffickers, and the resulting clandestine sea passages in overcrowded and dilapidated vessels have proved fatal for thousands of irregular migrants", IMO goes on. The report, compiled by the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) focuses on migration dynamics between Morocco and the European Union. Based on an extensive survey of 2,500 Moroccan households in five provinces in Morocco as well as in five Spanish regions, the study analyses the reasons for migration and identifies social, economic and regional policy issues that need to be addressed in order to moderate the existing migration pressure. The report also offers some explanations as to why the actual amount of migrants is significantly lower than the number of those who express such an intention.  The study is part of the larger "Push and Pull" research project on migration from the southern and eastern Mediterranean region and from sub-Saharan Africa to the European Union, conducted by NIDI and Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission. © MAP 2002

Despite some of the highest investment rates in the world since the 1980s,, growth in the Arab world has stagnated. At the same time, the region has failed to capture a greater proportion of international trade and capital flows, even though it is distinctly endowed with natural resources Development divides in the Arab world have widened even further in recent years, asserts the Arab World Competitiveness Report 2002-2003 (AWCR), newly released by the World Economic Forum in Geneva. Outdated, inefficient and inward looking state policies are at the core of the problem. The report described private investment in the Arab world as "insufficient and inefficient," and asserted that too much investment by the government-dominated financial sector was concentrated on "alarmingly" inefficient infrastructures. Given that almost 39 percent of the Arab world is under the age of 15, the report not only stresses the need to intensify job creation and develop educational systems that equip the population with the required skills for the rapidly evolving global economy but also emphasizes the profound environmental sustainability challenges faced by the region. 

"Much of the current discussion in policy circles is essentially about necessary conditions: resolving international conflicts and tensions, macroeconomic stability and better institutions. But discussions about longer term development and competitiveness need to be complemented with discussions about growth engines," noted Peter Cornelius, director of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Program. "The region has for too long pursued a one-dimensional growth strategy that  is far too reliant on capital accumulation as the single engine for growth." Focusing on 16 countries in the region, the report pins the blame on local governments rather than outside influences. Over the past 20 years, the Arab world has relied far too heavily on capital accumulation as the single engine for growth and has been left behind by the globalization, the report said. "The export structure of the region as a whole is still primarily based either on its absolute advantage in petroleum products, as in the case of the major oil-producing countries like Kuwait and Qatar, or on its comparative advantage in labor-intensive manufactures, as in the case of Morocco and Tunisia," it said. 

Focusing on growth engines, the report underscores the urgency of continuing the reform process, particularly privatization and trade and investment liberalization. The recommendations emphasized include the following facilitating start up by promoting entrepreneurship, accelerating tax reform, improving the environment for innovation and facilitating transfer of technology. As a platform to discuss the AWCR findings, the World Economic Forum is holding the first ever Arab World Competitiveness Meeting at its headquarters in Geneva on September 8-9, 2002. Over 250 of the political and business figures from the region as well as the heads of selected multinational corporations and international organizations will take part in the Meeting. 

"In recent years, the delicate political climate in the Middle East has often overshadowed critical discussions related to economic and social development in the Arab world," observes Professor Klaus Schwab, President of the World Economic Forum. "This Report focuses on the challenges facing these countries in improving their competitiveness at a particularly critical time."  The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world. The Forum provides a collaborative framework for the world's leaders to address global issues, engaging particularly its corporate members in global citizenship. Incorporated as a foundation, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. The Forum has NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. - (menareport.com)

The liberalization of the media is a national issue, Moroccan culture and communication minister, Mohamed Achaari, said Wednesday. "We have seen to it that the liberalization of the sector be a national issue and not a mere political slogan nor the subject of politician overbidding," Achaari told Al-Ittihad Al-Ichtiraki daily. The reform of the sector is part of the efforts made by King Mohammed VI to modernize the country and consolidate democracy, he said. For the minister, the liberalization of the audio-visual media will be a bond forward towards this objective. Morocco has two TV channels: TVM and 2M in addition to a national radio station, based in Rabat, and several radio stations in the country's major cities. The liberalization drive will help generate more jobs and promote the working conditions, Achaari said, stressing the need for enforcing a strategy covering investments, production, training and marketing. He noted that a higher audiovisual body will be created and will mark a revolution in the sector in view of the crucial role it will play in this connection. The body will regulate the intervention of the various actors in the field and will check national news production to preserve diversity and balance, he added.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has granted Morocco $300 million for the funding of Al Funaideq Free Port in the northern part of the country. The project on completion will provide job opportunities for more than 200,000 Moroccans. Agreement on the granting of the amount, granted in line with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was signed here yesterday in the presence of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, with Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs signing for the ADFD, while Fat'hullah Wala'alu, Moroccan Minister of Economy, Finance, Privatisation and Tourism, signed on behalf of his country. The UAE initiative to contribute to the funding of the project reflects the sincere commitment of the two Arab countries to boost relations by expanding the areas of cooperation for their mutual benefit. It also seeks to boost relations of joint economic development and to promote and protect joint investments, which would contribute immensely to their socio-economic development and expand their sectors, including industrial investments, tourism, import and export, in addition to creating job opportunities. The project will enable Morocco to play a pivot role and to be an active trade exchange partner at the regional and international levels, seizing the advantage of its strategic geographical location as a gateway to Europe and the U.S. on the one hand and to Arab and African nations on the other. Present at the signing ceremony were Sheikh Humaid bin Ahmed Al Mualla, Minister of Planning, Saeed bin Khalfan Al Rumaithy, ADFD Director-General and Isa Hamad Abu Shihab, UAE ambassador to Morocco.

Moroccan NGO cites overcrowding as major problem in Moroccan jails

The Moroccan observatory of prisons said in its annual report on prisons published Wednesday, that overcrowding remains one of the major problems in Moroccan prisons as the number of new inmates exceeds accommodation capacity of jails. The observatory which held a press conference to present its 2001-2002 report says new inmates reach 5,000 individuals annually. The accommodation capacity of the three new prisons does not exceed 1,800 persons. Morocco counts presently 50,000 prisoners, growing by 12% compared to last year, says Abderrahim Jamai, a member of the association who noted however that the new law on the organization and management of penitentiary institutions is a breakthrough that meets the claims of the civil society but its implementation requires a continuous follow-up. The association, endeavoring to guarantee the rights of prisoners and shield them against any abuse or illegal measure, was also astonished that the budget allocated to the penitentiary administration was cut by 10% in 2002 and noted that reducing the number of prisons custodians will not enable them carry out adequately their mission. The observatory, set up in 1999, also drew attention to the overcrowding, the poor health services and abuses of some agents working in prisons. A call was launched for "a revolution" in the penal policy in Morocco in order to face the poor implementation of the law and ill-treatments in some penitentiary centers.

GENEVA (AP) - Archaic, inefficient and inward-looking state policies have condemned most Arab economies to prolonged stagnation despite relatively rich natural resources and high investment rates, a report released Sunday said. The World Economic Forum report said urgent reforms were needed to open up the region to outside investment, privatize state-dominated economies, improve the quality of government, tackle corruption and modernize the education system. "The Arab world has suffered a 20-year growth slowdown," concluded the report, firmly blaming governments rather than outside influences. The Arab World Competitiveness Report focused on 16 countries and was published to coincide with a two-day meeting of Arab business and political leaders organized by the private World Economic Forum. The Arab world has relied far too heavily on capital accumulation as the single engine for growth and has been left behind by the globalization, the report said. In 1981, the region accounted for 10.7 per cent of world exports. In 2001, that was down to 3.5 per cent. "The export structure of the region as a whole is still primarily based either on its absolute advantage in petroleum products, as in the case of the major oil-producing countries like Kuwait and Qatar, or on its comparative advantage inlabour-intensive manufactures, as in the case of Morocco and Tunisia," it said. Successful export diversification hinged on a long-term strategy based on two pillars: the promotion of domestic entrepreneurship and the encouragement of foreign direct investment. But would-be businesses suffered from stifling regulatory burdens, while potential investors were deterred by Middle East tensions and by excessive government regulation and protection, it said. The report described private investment in the Arab world as "insufficient and inefficient." "Although the banking system is the most important part of the financial sector, its extraordinary inefficiency does not lead it to allocate national savings to their most productive uses," itsaid. "Without proper channelling of savings into productive and efficient investment, economic growth is impossible." Too much investment by the government-dominated financial sector was concentrated on "alarmingly" inefficient infrastructures, the report said. Also, Arab countries had been left behind by productivity gains in more dynamic parts of the world like Asia. "With the exception of Egypt, Oman, Syria, and Tunisia, productivity growth in the Arab world has been negative; that is, the efficiency of the economy has markedly deteriorated," it pointed out. Compared to the rest of the world, the Middle East has little access to, and low penetration of, telecommunications, partly because of the limited efforts at reform in the region. Even though the region had huge labour reserves, there was a dearth  of educational systems to train young people for the necessary skills for the rapidly evolving global economy, it said. In most countries, women were marginalized completely. Given that almost 39 per cent of the Arab world is under the age of 15, the continuing population explosion would result in greater pressures for jobs and on scarce resources like productive land and water. The report covered Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. © Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press

Blur are to fly to Morocco to finish working on their new album. They will take Fatboy Slim, who is producing the album, with them, but it's not thought guitarist Graham Coxon will go. There is speculation he has left the band, but this has not been confirmed. Alex James, Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree will fly out next week. Writing on the band's official website <http://www.blur.co.uk>, James says he's feeling very positive about the future: "I look at the future and my heart beats faster". "My state of mind, my home and the axis of love have all shifted and I wakeup whistling. The studio is on a lorry heading south. We leave Tuesday." Story filed: 12:00 Friday 13th September 2002

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