Rabat – Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has nominated the Moroccan ambassador to France, Chakib Benmoussa, to serve as president of the special committee in charge of the kingdom’s new development model. The royal cabinet announced the appointment on Tuesday, November 19.
The cabinet announcement added that the King met with the newly nominated committee president at the royal palace in Rabat.
Benmoussa is Morocco’s ambassador to France, the diplomat presented his credentials in Paris in 2012. The new committee chair also served as Morocco’s minister of the interior before becoming the King’s representative in Paris.
The long-awaited appointment comes after King Mohammed VI called for a special committee to be set up in order to address the needs of Morocco’s growing and modernizing population. In his speech on Throne Day, July 30, King Mohammed announced that the committee would be separate from the government.
King Mohammed VI stated that the committee would include representatives and experts from a range of fields and industries, including prominent Moroccans from the public and the private sectors. He added that the committee members must be highly competent and impartial in order to meet the needs of the nation that the committee aims to serve.
Read also: Morocco Launches Major Development Projects in Laayoune
“I should like to emphasize, in this regard, that the said committee will not serve as a second government or be a parallel official institution. This is an advisory body with a specific time-bound mission,’’ King Mohammed VI said.
The special committee will, in order to meet the King’s expectations, carefully consider serious reforms in education, health, agriculture, investment, and taxation.
The committee is also expected to make suggestions on how to improve reforms the government has already put into place and increase their effectiveness.
Mohammed VI wants the new committee to shake things up in Morocco and to address ongoing issues of social and economic disparity, gaps in the education and health sectors, as well as the business and investment. He believes that to fulfill this role the committee members must be critical and neutral.
“I expect the committee to be totally impartial and objective, and to report on facts as they are on the ground, however harsh or painful they may be. And when proposing solutions, I want it to be daring and innovative.’’
