Rabat - Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy Moulay Hafid El Alalmy met, on Monday in Rabat, with Spanish Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism José Manuel Soria on the development of partnership the in sectors of car industry, renewable energy, shipbuilding and industrial technical centers.

During this meeting, the two sides hailed the positive evolution of bilateral economic ties marked by a strong synergy and the privileged role of the two countries as strategic partners in the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean.

On prospects for the development of bilateral trade relations, El Alamy underscored the need to boost the emergence of new economic conditions propitious for the creation of wealth and aimed at a shared competitiveness via notably the strengthening of productive investment based on a joint development strategy.

"The goal is to develop a win-win partnership while making sure to respect an objective convergence of respective interests," he added. 

The minister underlined that the Moroccan industrial market's new dynamic, triggered by the 2014-2020 industrial acceleration plan, will offer opportunities for a mutually beneficial Moroccan-Spanish partnership.

Soria confirmed the interest by Spanish entrepreneurs in developing projects in Morocco, projects with common value added that benefit from the industrial sector's know-how and expertize.

Rabat - The World Bank (WB) and the British Council (BC) announced today that they will sign a memorandum of understanding on September 30 to promote the importance of social enterprises and launch a new incubation program for social entrepreneurs in Morocco.

With the assistance of a multi-donor trust fund, WB ad BC will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) involving $330,000 US in Rabat, the headquarters of the World Bank, on September 30, 2014, at 8.30 am.

This agreement will allow the partners to promote the importance of social enterprise and launch a new incubation program for social entrepreneurs.

A campaign will be launched in early November 2014 to raise awareness about potential job creation and improved social services resulting from social enterprises. A pilot program will support, assist, and finance Moroccan social enterprises.

The project plans to identify 30 social entrepreneurs with innovative projects, who will participate in a training program in January 2015.

The signing of the MOU will be attended by the Director of the Maghreb Department at the World Bank, Mr. Simon Gray, the British Council Regional Director—MENA, Mr Adrian Chadwick, and the new Director of the British Council Morocco, Mr John Mitchell.

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Madrid - The Spanish justice ordered on Sunday the detention of the suspected head of a terrorist cell, associated with the "Islamic State" organization, disbanded on Friday by Moroccan and Spanish security services.

A judge of the Spanish highest penal jurisdiction, Javier Gomez Bermudez, heard on Sunday the suspect, Mohamed Said Mohamed, who holds the Spanish nationality, and decided to put him in detention without bail, out of fear that the suspect could flee the Spanish territory or destroy the pieces of evidence.

Investigations led so far show that the defendant, a former serviceman, arrested on Friday in Morocco's northern city of Melilia, under Spanish rule, was the head of a jihadist band that was planning to join the "Islamic State" Organization.

The man, who has criminal records and who had already served a prison sentence between February and August 2014, was wanted by Morocco which had issued an international arrest warrant for suspicion of establishing armed gangs to plot and carry out terrorist acts", the Spanish judge said.

Eight other members of the same cell who had been arrested on Friday in Nador (northeastern Morocco) were found to be in close contact with a former Spanish serviceman who had rallied in 2012 the "Mujao" organization, associated with Al Qaeda, before joining later the "Islamic State" organization.

The Moroccan interior ministry announced last Friday the disbanding, in close collaboration with the Spanish security services, of a network, active in Nador and Melilia (northeastern Morocco), suspected of recruiting fighters for the Iraqi-Syrian jihadist group "Islamic State".

Investigation showed that the eight men were in touch with members of "Attaouhid" and "Al Mouahidine," two other groups disbanded in May 2013 in Nador. They also coordinated with "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" group in northern Mali.

By Nouh Anajjar

Nador, Morocco - The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar, announced on September 24^th the results of the Arab Index for 2014, a survey carried out in 14 Arab countries to gauge public opinion on various topics.

The countries included in the survey were Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, and Libya. The survey also included the views of Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan inside Syrian territory bordering Turkey.

The field poll, considered byDr. Mohammed al-Masri, the coordinator of the Public Opinion Unit of the Arab Center to be the largest survey of public opinion in the Arab region and therefore an important source of data for decision-makers, researchers and those interested in the affairs of the Arab region, was carried out between January and July, 2014, and surveyed 26,618 interviewed respondents with a margin of error ranging from 2 to 3%.

The results of the survey this year revealed a split in public opinion on the Arab Spring: Only 45% of respondents considered the Arab revolutions to be positive developments in the Arab region, whereas 42% expressed a negative assessment of the Arab Spring. The 42% who considered the Arab revolutions to be negative supported their view by citing the huge number of human casualties, the failure to achieve the intended objectives, and the deterioration of economic conditions since those events. Interestingly enough, while the notion had been prevalent previously, only 5% of the respondents maintained that the Arab Spring had been a foreign conspiracy.

Notwithstanding the split in public opinion on the merits of the Arab revolutions, Arabs are generally still optimistic about the Arab Spring and have confidence in its eventual positive fruits. The majority of the public (estimated at 60%) said they believe that the Arab Spring is undergoing a tumble, but that it will ultimately achieve its objectives, and only 17% of the respondents said they thought that the Arab Spring has resulted merely in the reappearance of previous systems of governance. In fact, many citizens of the Arab region said that they believe that the deterioration of security in some countries, the decline of economic conditions, some external interference, the emergence of extremist movements, as well as the incitement caused by media, to be major factors that have contributed to the faltering of the Arab Spring.

At the economic level, the survey indicates that the economic condition of the citizens of the Arab region is not satisfactory at all. 42% said that their incomes cover no more than the expenses of their everyday needs, and thus they cannot save money. 32% reported that their families live in poverty insofar as their incomes do not fully cover all their living expenses.

As for Arab national security, 66% reported that Israel and the United States are the most menacing countries to Arab national security, while only 9% felt that Iran is the most threatening to the security of the Arab world. It was mostly Yemenis, Saudis, Iraqis, Kuwaitis, and Lebanese who considered Iran to be the most threatening to the security of their countries.

The results also showed that 87% of the citizens of the Arab region refuse to recognize Israel, and they justified their hostility towards Israel through a number of factors mostly associated with the colonial, racist, and expansionist nature of Israeli settlements in Palestine. Dr. Masri asserted that the views of Arabs who refuse to recognize Israel do not emanate from cultural attitudes or hatred against Jews, but rather reflect opposition to Zionists.

When it comes to technology and the internet, the results indicated that television is still the primary means by which Arabs follow the news (76%), followed by the Internet (7%), and radio and the daily press (6% each). National TV channels are the most common source for news, by Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. 48% of respondents to the survey stated that they do not use the Internet, compared to 50% who said they do, 71% of Internet users have an account on Facebook, and 29% of Internet users have an account on Twitter. The majority of those with Facebook and Twitter accounts said they use these social websites to interact with others on political issues.

As for the impact of religion and spiritual belief on public life and political life, the results showed that the majority of the citizens of the Arab region reported that they are either "very religious" (24%), or "religious somewhat" (63%), compared to 8% who said that they are "not religious.”

The survey covered other issues such as immigration, evaluation of the performance of governmental policies, financial corruption, democracy, and the rule of law.

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies is an institution focusing on geo-political issues in the Arab region that studies various policies, including Arab policies, foreign policies towards the Arab region, governmental policies, and institutional and policies,and provides alternatives and solutions. The center’s philosophy believes in the existence of a unified Arab national security and common interests among Arab countries, as well as the potential for improving the Arab economy.

Edited by Elisabeth Myers

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Fez - A Moroccan boy born without a face, is being saved by the intervention of a Moroccan living in Australia.

Yahya, a little three year old boy, born near Tangier, was the main topic of an Australian TV show that was aired on Sunday.

The child was born without eyes, nose and upper jaw because without the bones in his face, they were not able to merge whilst he was still in his mother’s womb.

Yahya's father, Mustapha Zohra, who was desperate to find a solution for his son, consulted several surgeons who refused to operate him. Fortunately for him, the story of Yahya spread on social networks and attracted the attention of a Moroccan citizen living in Australia, Fatima Baraka.

"I opened my Facebook one day [...] and I saw an image that really caught my attention," Baraka said to the Australian Seven TV channel. While she was fighting breast cancer, Baraka contacted parents of Yahya and pledged to find a surgeon able to restore the boy's face.

Now, thanks to the efforts made by Fatima Baraka, Yahya will be operated by Melbourne reconstructive surgeon Tony Holmes.

The Australian surgeon, who met Yahya for the first time in August to assess his case, expressed his concern over the chances for the operation to succeed, adding that his case is extreme.

"My biggest concern is whether or not he is suitable for surgery, we really do not know how he is functioning and how the brain is functioning," he said.

"I think this one is about as difficult as it gets, on the you know, this is a 9-9.50 out of 10 degree of difficulty without any doubt I mean this is cranio-facial neurosurgery at its extreme," he added.

Holmes told the Australian TV channel that Yahya’s necessitates many surgeries and hoped he would complete the first surgery by the end of this year.

New York- A Moroccan was chosen among Africa's top 10 economic leaders for tomorrow. According to a study conducted by the French Institute Choiseul, 39-year old Mehdi Tazi, CEO of Saham Assurances, ranked 7th among Africa’s top 10 economic leaders for tomorrow.

The fisrt annual survey conducted by the French Institute “identifies and ranks the young African leaders of 40 years old and under, who will play a major role in the development of Africa in the near future.”

In addition to Tazi, 16 other Moroccans are included in the ranking of the 100 top African economic leaders, making Morocco the second best represented African country in the survey after Kenya and Nigeria with 18 each. 58 women are among Africa’s 100 economic leaders.

The ranking is topped by Nigeria’s Iglo Sanomi, followed by Mohammed Dewji from Tanzania and Hisham El Khazindar from Egypt.

The list of the top 10 African leaders is as follows:

Geneva - "Eléphant Vert," leading Swiss bio-fertilizer company, gained a foothold in Morocco where it is in the process of setting up three production units in Meknes, Agadir and Berkane for an amount of 65 million euros.

This project, which will provide 500 jobs by 2017, seeks to make the country a hub to export three-quarters of its production to Europe and African, the company said.

The Moroccan subsidiary, in partnership with Swiss Antenna Technologies foundation, has already inaugurated a site in Meknes which is being extended. This unit absorbed direct investments worth 25 million euros to which another 20 million will be added in the coming years.

For the sites of Agadir and Berkane, the company intends to ship in 7 million euros for each project at first. 

This experience is meant to turn the Meknes region into a showcase for industrial innovation, research and development, said the group managing director Sébastien Couasnet.

New York - Bahrain on Monday reiterated its full support to Morocco's territorial integrity and the autonomy initiative proposed by the kingdom to reach a final political settlement of the ‘Western Sahara’ issue.

"We reiterate our historical and unwavering position of principle of solidarity with the brotherly Kingdom of Morocco and our full support to the autonomy initiative for the Moroccan Sahara under Morocco's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa said before the 193 members States of the UN General Assembly.

"Our choices are clear, our vision is global and our strategy is thorough and consistent with our regional, Arab and international context," said the Bahraini chief diplomat, whose remarks were reported by the Bahraini news agency.

He added that Bahrain will continue to work for the stability, peace, security, development, human rights protection and the rejection of terrorism, violence and hatred.

Rabat- Daniel Craig, the British actor who will feature James Bond in the 007 movie franchise is reportedly in a visit to Marrakech.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, Craig spent the last weekend in Marrakech, while keeping a low profile. The 46-year old actor chose a name of Dr. Kananga, a character of a 1973 movie "Live and Let Die" in order to go unnoticed and not be disturbed by paparazzi’s.

Daniel Craig is in a visit to Morocco to prepare for the shooting of the upcoming James Bond movie set to begin at the end of this year in Austria, Rome and Morocco.

Bond24 is scheduled to be released on October 23, 2015 in the UK and November 6 2015 in the U.S.

Over the years, Morocco has become a favorite film destination acclaimed by a number of successful Hollywood film-makers.

One of the recent movies filmed in Morocco is “Son of God,” which was released last February. Other blockbuster movies were also filmed in Morocco, such as "Lawrence of Arabia," "Gladiator," "Cleopatra," "Kingdom of Heaven," "Troy" and Alexander the Great."

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Taroudant, Morocco - The anti-Islamic ads bankrolled by right-wing blogger Pamela Geller in New York City's subway system this month have been yanked after criticism from slain journalist James Foley's heartbroken parents.

Led by blogger Pamela Geller, the right-wing group American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) ran a series of anti-Islamic ads in New York City's subway system that shows captive journalist James Foley moments before he was decapitated.

The Zionist group was forced to modify the ad after receiving a letter from the Foley family opposing the use of the image of their beheaded son.

However, the anti-Islam ad is still running featuring a different image, but with the same headline that reads, “Yesterday's moderate is today's headline,” and a bold expression printed in red at the bottom of the page that reads, “It’s not Islamophobia, it's Islamorealism.

According to the New York Post, the other anti-Islamic ads scheduled to appear in New York and San Francisco will go forward this week.

In the letter sent to the anti-Islamic group, the Foley family wrote, “The advertisement you are preparing to run seems to convey the message that ordinary practitioners of Islam are a dangerous threat. This message is entirely inconsistent with Mr. Foley's reporting and his beliefs.”

With her regular anti-Islam campaign since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America and extreme views, Pamela Geller apparently is doing whatever it takes to spread a distorted broad brush view of Islam.

Ironically, the United States, which has laws to fight all forms of segregation and discrimination, has no law against hate speech per se (unless it poses an imminent danger of unlawful action, where the speaker has the intention to incite such action and such action is likely as a consequence of his or her speech), and worse allows such ads to run in public spaces.

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Rabat - The prices of premium gasoline, fuel oil n2, fuel oil n2 ONE and special fuel will decline as of October 1, 2014. 

The price of diesel oil will remain fixed at MAD 9.69 per liter, announced the Ministry of General Affairs and Governance on Tuesday.

The price of special fuel will drop by MAD 166.97 per ton, to stand at MAD 6,361.30 per ton, while the price of fuel oil n2 ONE will fall by MAD 101.48 per ton to reach MAD 5,585.87, the Ministry said in a statement.

The price of fuel oil n2 will decrease by MAD 101.47 ton to MAD 5,787.42, while the price of premium gasoline will cost MAD 12.87 per liter.

Rabat - The M'Goun geopark, located in the Moroccan central region of Tadla-Azilal, has obtained recently the UNESCO "Global Geopark" label.

The Office of the "global network of geoparks," a UNESCO offshoot, awarded, during the 6th world conference of geoparks held this month in Stonehammer Geopark in Canada, the prestigious label to the M'goun geopark which was selected together with 11 European and Asian geoparks.

Morocco become thus the first Arab and African country to integrate the global network of geoparks.

The M'goun geopark meets two major criteria: rich and varied natural, geological, cultural and architectural legacy and an appropriate management structure with a socio-economic development strategy based on geo-tourism and sustainable tourism.

The geological heritage of the Geopark includes outstanding mineralogical and paleontological features, like abundant dinosaur trackways of theropods and sauropodes, geomorphologic sites like the Jurassic limestone bridge Pont d’Imin Ifri, or waterfalls, and impressive conglomerate cliffs.

Paris- Morocco participated Tuesday in Paris at the 4th High Level Meeting on Mali, which is a follow-up to the international donor conference 'Together for a new Mali'.

During this meeting, Morocco's Ambassador to France Chakib Benmoussa underlined the importance of continued international commitment to support Mali.

 Hailing the excellent political and economic cooperation between Morocco and Mali, he said that the kingdom supports Mali in its efforts to protect the spiritual integrity of its people and safeguard the humanistic values of tolerant and open Islam.

 In this regard, the diplomat underlined the importance of the cooperation program implemented by Morocco to train more than 500 imams and rehabilitate Mali's mosques.

Marrakech - The beheading of the French hostage Hervé Gourdel in Algeria in the notoriously dangerous terrorist area of Kabilye has caused a drop in tourist bookings according to the President of the French Travel Agents Union.

Morocco, which is secure and does not have the long running terrorism problems that has afflicted Algeria since 1992, suffers by association because it is part of North Africa and it is an Islamic country.

There is an irrational fear amongst Westerners when they come to an Islamic country like Morocco that they might be in danger. Morocco and its Malakite rite of Islam is the most welcoming Muslim country in the world and values its Western tourists. Algeria has a negligible tourism industry due entirely to its ongoing terrorism problem.

Morocco’s internal security forces are highly effective, and although there are regular arrests of members of networks linked to ISIS and Al Qaeda attempting to send young Moroccans to fight in Syria and Iraq, they have never been able to develop to a dangerous level. There is a threat, as there is in every country, from Islamist terrorists but Morocco has a better surveillance system than most countries.

In 1991 during the first Gulf War, western governments ordered their nationals to leave all Maghreb countries. In Morocco’s case, it was recognized afterwards that there was no need for this action, which severely affected Moroccan tourism at the time. The Europeans who remained in Morocco experienced no problem whatsoever.

The situation in Morocco in 2014 is different. There is a serious terrorist threat and no country can be entirely sure that all terrorist threats, particularly “lone wolves” unattached to any terrorist network (like the 2011 Argana Café bombing in Marrakech) might strike. Such is the state of the 21^st century world, characterized by global terrorism.

However, unlike in 1991, tourist centers and towns now have expatriate populations, many of whom work in the tourist industry in riads or hotels. These individuals are committed supporters of tourism in Morocco. No other country in North Africa has this positive tourism environment, and it plays a considerable role in building solidarity and client loyalty with Morocco as the number of tourists coming to the country continues to grow.

The Moroccan Tourism Office is holding events for tour operators and the press in France and in Britain this November during the World Travel Market to reassure tour operators of tourist safety in Morocco. This has been a recurring theme over the years, but Morocco’s tourism continues to grow because it is deservedly popular, offers many varied locations, and is embraced by the kingdom’s residents.

In fact, Morocco’s tourism figures and rate of return may be said to be more threatened by an alarming increase in the amount of time tourists have to wait to get their passport stamped on entry at Marrakech airport, where 50% of Morocco’s tourists enter the country. Delays of one-and-a-half to two hours are now commonplace, almost as long as the flight time from Europe to Marrakech. Unresponsive immigration staff with only half the number of passport officers on duty at any one time, and the need to put details into computers by hand causes unnecessary delays, which often results in tourists hesitance to return to Morocco.

This has been a problem of varying intensity for years. Tourists have asked if there is a way flights could be staggered so that they do not all land at once, or a more efficient entry system for passport details and stamps which do not fade on the passport. Practical details such as this are an important way of smoothing the way for tourist arrivals so that the number of tourists continues to increase.

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New York - UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman welcomed, Tuesday in New York, Morocco's efforts in fighting against extremism, notably the initiative of King Mohammed VI to train African Imams.

"On behalf of the Secretariat of the United Nations, I would like to thank the Kingdom of Morocco for this initiative which comes at an opportune time," Feltman was quoted by Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) as saying.

Feltman said that Mohammed VI's initiative is in line with the efforts of the international community to address the growing threat of violent extremism worldwide.

The UN official was speaking on the sidelines of a high-level meeting of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the UN Security Council dedicated to "Countering incitement to terrorist acts motivated by extremism or intolerance: Morocco’s approach and experiences of other African states."

With MAP

Marrakech - The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child issued its report on Moroccan education on 19 September. The Committee welcomed the increase in school enrollment and the efforts to increase gender equality at the primary level and the increased public resources allocated to the education sector.

However, it highlighted a number of remaining challenges. It noted that a significant number of rural children, children with disabilities, children put to work, and children from poor households are deprived of education and schooling despite government regulations.

The Committee noted that girls still face difficulties in accessing secondary education. It stated that education services are badly managed, and only two thirds of resources that are earmarked to improve the education are actually used. The report blamed this on a lack of transparency.

While private education is developing rapidly, especially at the primary level, it lacks the necessary supervision regarding the conditions of enrolment and the quality of education. This has resulted in unequal access to education, as well as teachers engaging in private lessons in public schools, as noted recently by the Head of Government Abdelilah Benkirane. Teachers are also giving priority to their work in private schools at the expense of public schools.

The Committee noted that the quality of education remains low and the rate of school dropouts is high. It also noted that preschool education remains underdeveloped and virtually non-existent in rural areas.

The Committee made a number of recommendations, including strengthening government efforts to ensure that all children are enrolled in primary and secondary education. It called for more efficient utilization and control of financial resources allocated to the education system. In addition, control of the rapidly growing private education sector needs to be imposed so that public sector teachers are not poached by the private sector.

The Committee called on the Moroccan government to improve the quality of education and teacher training, as well as vocational training so that children, young people and educational dropouts develop job-relevant skills. It called for the development of early childhood care and education and for the Moroccan government to allocate sufficient resources to these causes.

The problem of public sector teachers also teaching in private schools is not unique to Morocco and occurs in developed countries as well. This issue stems from teachers’ low pay in the public sector; teachers with low salaries feel discouraged by a heavy work-load and inadequate remuneration.

Therefore, societies need to place a far higher importance on the status of teachers and the value of education as a key part of  social development. In a time of tight financial resources and increasing population, this can be difficult.

King Mohammed VI has called for improvements in the way subjects are taught and for providing job-related training. Students should be able to question and consider subjects so that they understand them instead of learning by rote.

However, the basics of writing, reading and arithmetic, if well taught, will place children in good position when they leave school to seek employment. Language-learning also benefits students of all ages, and expanding their linguistic ability and experience. Moroccan children in the public sector start learning French at eight years old, which is considered late by European standards.

Moroccan students are now benefiting from different educational systems, including English curriculums, which need to be made more widely available. Students should not be limited to one educational system, namely the French model. Instead, they should be given the opportunity to take advantage of different educational curricula, such as, the American, Spanish and Belgian. These are becoming available in private schools and hopefully in time will be more widely available in the public sector.

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