Rabat – Morocco has signed a loan agreement of €150 million with France to fund Morocco’s employment policy for the economic integration of youth.
Morocco’s Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani signed the agreements with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe as part of the 14th France-Morocco High-Level Meeting on Thursday, December 19.
The loan will fund economic integration projects in three pilot regions of Morocco’s 12 regions: the Souss-Massa around Agadir, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra around the capital region, and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima where Riffians have been complaining of social and economic marginalization for years.
The loan was among other agreements Morocco signed with France on the economic, social, and cultural sectors, including five “declarations of intent.”
The agreements cover urban planning, industrial property, education, decentralized cooperation, spatial planning, territorial cohesion, housing, town policy, and territorial development.
One administrative agreement will develop cooperation on the industrial property for “vulnerable adults” between the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC), according to Maghreb Arab Press.
In addition to industrial property, the two officials also signed a cooperation accord in the areas of pre-school education, teachers’ initial and vocational training, and inclusive education.
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El Othmani and Philippe also signed declarations of intent to increase decentralization cooperation, including impact studies, codification, and the vocational training of legal advisers.
Further partnerships between Moroccan and French higher education institutions was also among the agreements the two countries signed.
Finally, France’s Arab World Institute and the Museums Foundation of the Kingdom of Morocco (FNMM) agreed to collaborate.
The signing ceremony was attended by a Moroccan delegation including the entire Moroccan cabinet.
