Rabat – Moroccan historian, thinker, and Secretary-General of the Council of Moroccans Living Abroad, Abdellah Boussouf, has called for the creation of a special agency for the Moroccans of the world.
The agency’s tasks would be to target talented and skilled Moroccan immigrants, as well as to motivate Moroccans living abroad and encourage them to invest in their homeland. The agency would also study their needs.
The Moroccan community “does not demand to rise to the moon, but only simple rights within the reach of political actors,” said Boussouf during an interview with news outlet “Al-3omk.”
The Moroccan intellectual presented a number of recommendations and proposals to stop the brain drain, so allowing Morocco to benefit from its talented citizens.
Boussouf stressed the need to coordinate in order to study the needs of Moroccans living abroad and to create incentives that would encourage them to return to their home country.
One of the biggest problems that Moroccans residing abroad suffer from is the “complicated bureaucracy,” explained Boussouf, giving the example of Moroccans who waited more than two years in order to obtain an equivalency certificate for their qualifications.
“How can we ask Moroccans in these circumstances to return to their homeland?” he asked.
“How can we motivate Moroccans of the world to return, when every Thursday, the government council approves appointments to high positions, and there are no Moroccans living abroad among them?” the thinker continued.
The Moroccan banking sector is also an obstacle for Moroccans residing abroad, as it “does not make efforts to help them start economic projects” in Morocco, Boussouf outlined.
Another problem that the historian pointed out is the lack of legislation against the brain drain. Boussouf revealed that “companies come to Morocco and attract Moroccans without any supervision.”
“Here, the Moroccan legislator must develop legislative tools in the field of monitoring migration,” he recommends.
Boussouf expressed his worries about the brain drain, saying that Moroccan talents leave the country in “a very disturbing way.”
During the interview, the intellectual also described some real estate scams in Morocco that Moroccans living abroad have fallen victim to. He announced that it is unacceptable “to exploit the absence of Moroccans living abroad to seize their properties or steal their hard-earned money.”
Showing great discontent, Boussouf said that scam cases in the field of real estate are big obstacles that stop Moroccans living abroad from returning to the North African country.
“How can a Moroccan work and save up for 30 years in order to have real estate in his country, and then find out that he has been scammed?” he asked.
Such cases harm the image of the country, especially among younger generations of Moroccan immigrants, and do not encourage them to invest in their home country.
Finally, Boussouf called for reviewing the policies related to air and sea transportation, and providing encouraging offers to Moroccans around the world, either by opening new transport routes or by allocating financial support to Moroccan transportation companies to give discounts to Moroccans.
The official revealed that a number of Moroccans in several countries, such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and even Spain, and France, can only visit their homeland every three or four years because of travel difficulties.
King Mohammed VI appointed Abdellah Boussouf as Secretary-General of the Council of Moroccans Living Abroad in 2007. The council’s mission is to evaluate public policies regarding Moroccans residing abroad and to defend the interests of the Moroccan diaspora.
