Our group kept up the pace on Day 2! We started our morning with an early departure for Rabat, where we met Mr. Ibrahim Biyoud, Minister Plenipotentiary, Directorate of the Americas and Mr. Nabigha Hajji, Head of the Division of Economic Promotion, Directorate of Economic Promotion and Cooperation at the Academy for Diplomatic Studies.
Mr. Biyoud emphasized the friendship treaty between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States, first signed in 1777, which represents a strong tie between the two countries in which there has been no break in relations. He also noted that the Moroccan delegation is looking forward to the Fourth Strategic Dialogue between the two countries, scheduled to take place in 2019 in Washington, D.C. The discussions during the dialogue will cover issues in four main areas: political affairs, security cooperation, and economic and cultural relations. When asked about the nature of bilateral relations with other major powers such as Russia and China, Mr. Biyoud replied, “Lately, the world is open and you have to look for cooperation everywhere, but I have never seen as strong of a relationship as with the United States.”
Mr. Hajji spoke about Morocco’s economic transformation, a topic of great interest to several members of our group focusing our policy recommendations on strategies to increase the participation of youth and women in the labor force. Between the third generation Industrial Acceleration Plan (2014 – 2020) and the Green Morocco Plan, the Kingdom of Morocco aims to create a total of 2 million jobs by 2020 through several ambitious sectoral strategies. Mr. Hajji noted that Morocco needs to export more value-added products to address the existing trade deficit with the United States and to ensure the growth of its economy.
Morocco is, at the same time, looking for opportunities to deepen its relations with its Sub-Saharan African neighbors. Last year, Morocco rejoined the African Union after a thirty-three-year absence due to disagreements among members about its territorial sovereignty claims in the Western Sahara. Now, Morocco has focused its efforts on a campaign to join the Economic Community of West African States. When asked about the impact of Morocco’s investments on the continent, Mr. Hajji replied, “The perception of risk is different when Moroccans are present.” He underscored the importance of putting in place banking and insurance networks that help to support business transactions across the continent, emphasizing the role of Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco’s largest bank which has branches in 25 countries.
At the Ministry of Industry, we continued to discuss economic cooperation and the need for enhanced skills development to meet the needs of an evolving Moroccan economy. While traditional sectors such as agriculture and textiles are areas of emphasis under the Industrial Acceleration Plan, Morocco is also promoting the automotive, aeronautics, pharmaceutical, and heavy machinery sectors, among others. The Acting General Manager for the Agency for Digital Development noted, “Now we are moving into the knowledge economy which means that skills are more and more important to be able to work in new jobs. Public universities need to modernize the curriculum and make it match the needs of the private sector.”
We heard similar concerns about the quality of education and training as we took a break at a nearby hotel with our interpreter and a small group of Moroccan students from the University of Rabat. One young female student said, “Ten years ago, it was much better to live in Morocco than it is now in term of security, education, and access to healthcare. What is happening here is the opposite of what it should be.” Another of the students expressed a desire to leave Morocco to gain work experience with the hope of eventually returning home.