Highlights

​Mr. El Azami El Idrissi Driss, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance in Charge of the Budget took part in the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held in Washington from 12 to 13 April 2014.

Within the framework of these meetings, the Minister Delegate by the Minister of Economy and Finance in charge of the Budget participated in the meeting of the World Bank and IMF development Committee. The agenda of the Development Committee tackled particularly the issue of "the post crisis global economy and the political challenges for developing countries ".

In this occasion, Mr. El Azami El Idrissi Driss spoke on behalf   of our group, constituted of, in addition to Morocco, countries such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Ghana, Iran, Pakistan and Tunisia, emphasizing that to promote a strong and durable growth in this phase which follows the crisis, developing countries have to pursue the reforms which aim at improving both the climate and the levels of investment and productivity.

The Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget also focused on strengthening the regional integration and promoting South-South cooperation, important for developing countries to achieve a sustainable growth, mainly by the reinforcement of trade and investment between these countries
In this regard, Mr. El Azami underlined that investing in infrastructure is essential to improve the citizens’ access to basic services and the business environment, and to increase productivity. In this respect, he welcomed the World Bank Group’s emphasis on investing in infrastructure, particularly through direct financing, supporting the Public Private Partnership and mobilizing more resources of the private sector within the framework of the Global Infrastructure Facility.

Mr. El Azami participated also in the meetings of the President of the World Bank and in the CEO of the IMF with the African governors as well as in the meetings of the General Management of the (IMF) with the Ministers of Finance, the Governors of the Central Banks and the Managers of the regional financial institutions of the MENA regions.

During these meetings, the Minister stressed the ambitious reforms initiated by Morocco to enhance the macroeconomic balances and strengthen the basis for a strong and inclusive growth. In this context, he underlined the progress carried out at the level of compensation and social welfare. Besides, he emphasized the new strategy of industrial acceleration, presented recently in front of HIS MAJESTY THE KING, to enable Morocco to move to a higher level of growth and employment. The Minister also pointed out to the importance of the regional integration in Morocco’s strategy.

The Minister also met the vice-president of the (IFM) to discuss prospects for cooperation with the Fund and the progress made in terms of reducing the budget and exterior weaknesses as well as implementing some structural reforms and accelerating sector-based strategies.

In addition, the Minister Delegate had a meeting with Madam Keiko Honda, CEO and Executive Vice-President of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) during which he insisted on the role of MIGA for promoting Moroccan investments abroad, especially towards Africa.

Moreover, Mr. El Azami met with Mr. Kamram Khan, Vice-president of the Millennium Challenge’s Company (MCC). The Minister was pleased with the results realized within the framework of the first program MCC-Maroc (2008-2013) and repeated the commitment of the government to assure the Sustainability of projects and underlined the importance of this program in strengthening cooperation between Morocco and the United States of America and to support Morocco’s efforts regarding sustainable development and fight against  poverty.

Mr. El Azami El Idrissi participated also in the World Bank seminar on Gender, and presented the Moroccan experience in gender responsive budgeting and the Centre of Excellence, developed within the Ministry of Economy and Finance in cooperation with UN Women.

Furthermore, within the framework of a meeting organized by the American Business Council, the Minister presented before a group of American investors, the business opportunities and the dynamism of reforms in Morocco.
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