Officials from the Moroccan and French ministries of Economy and Finance agree on the necessity to extend and diversify their cooperation programmes beyond the bilateral relations restricted to the areas of expertise of both ministries.
During the inaugural session of a series of meetings scheduled between the 9th and the 11th of April ,2008, Mr. A. LOUDIYI, general Secretary of the MEF addressed the participants, saying he was pleased with the quality, the excellence, the efficiency that characterized the cooperation programmes between the two institutions.
However, Mr. LOUDIYI was confident that the conditions are ripe for re-orienting this cooperation:
First, the signature of a new cooperation agreement between the two ministries on the 24th of October ,2007 during the visit of the French President to Morocco should give a new dynamics to relations between the two departments.
Second, it was expected that the classical model of cooperation that was restricted to aspects relating to Customs & Excise and Treasury should evolve into a transversal model involving reforms ((budgetary reform, reform of public expenditures).
Third, a major factor related to the demands of the international environment which is currently undergoing financial uncertainties that impact national economies in terms of inflation, growth and spending power.As a matter of fact, the national context has its own constraints.
The Secretary General stressed that facing up these challenges would require an upgrading administrative capability, increasing the visibility of public policies, as well as further improving the quality of services provided to citizens.
One last factor is the reforms currently under way in both ministries. At the Ministry of Economy and Finance, several actions have been undertaken: adopting a new budgetary approach that is result-oriented, a modulated control of public expenditures, launching a web portal; conducting a continuous update of finance law, improving transparency and communication. The MINEFI, for its part, implemented the LOLF and proceeded to an overall review of public policies.
The Secretary General concluded that all these elements would potentially enhance cooperation between the two ministries and gear it towards the exchange of expertise and the search for better practice pertaining to modernization. To this effect, he called for regular conferences on the MEF premises on relevant issues. Monitored by French experts, these conferences should involve the highest number of executives from the ministry.
Mr. Secretary General added that besides the bilateral meetings held within the framework of the ADETEF mission, ``Les regards croisés`` which relate the experiences of both organisations should offer a better definition of cooperation between representatives on both sides.
Mr. Daniel MOREL, President of the ADETEF, spoke on behalf of the French delegation and underlined the exemplary relations between the two ministries and the predisposition of the ADETEF to assist the Ministry of Economy and Finance in the actions to undertake.
Citing the French experience, whereby the administration is conditioned by the European environment, he stressed the importance of expertise exchange and collaboration between the MEF and the MINEFI in enhancing reflections on topical issues and in accompanying Morocco in its reform programme.
Mr. D. MOREL noted that the cooperation between the two institutions expanded to more transversal domains and he reiterated ADETEF?s commitment to the implementation of the different ongoing reforms in Morocco - particularly within the MEF. He also emphasised the importance of gearing this cooperation towards public policies, while insisting on the opportunities offered by new financing modes which would eventually allow the development of twin actions.
In this context, Mr. Omar FARAJ, Director of General and Administrative Affairs has drawn attention to the profound mutations that MINEFI is undergoing these days and which should be taken into consideration when working out the terms of the new cooperation convention. He has also underlined that the MEF directors have so far had as interlocutors their vis-à-vis in MINEFI, most of whom are no longer in office, following the general restructuring of organisation charts (merger of DGI/DCP). In his opinion this warrants an organisational rather than a technical approach to cooperation, an idea that Mr. MOREL fully endorses.
This plenary session was also an opportunity to address current topical issues, such as the general revision of public policies, the inter-ministerial commission of programme auditing, the implementation tools of OLF, and the plural nature of yearly budgeting.
Mr. OLLIVIER, Senior Finance Inspector, and head of a committee in charge of the general revision of public policies, M. LUBEK, Senior Finance Inspector and president of the inter-ministerial committee of programme auditing, and M. CHEVAUCHEZ, the ADETEF General Finance and Economic Controller, answered queries raised by MEF directors present at the meeting.