Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Economy and Finance, and Mr. Abdellatif Youssef Al Hamad, Director General and President of the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, signed loan agreements for an overall figure of MAD 1767 million, on Tuesday May 26th ,2009, at the Ministry`s headquarters. The loan is a contribution to financing three major projects: the building of two highway sections between Taza and Oujda for a figure of MAD 770 million, the enlargement of the Casablanca- Rabat highway for MAD 570 million, and the building of the Zrar Dam near Essaouira for MAD 427 million.
The first two projects are part of the highway expansion plan aiming to build 1500 km of highway up to 2011. The third project is designed to respond to the growing demand in drinking water in the city of Essaouira, to irrigate some 15,000 ha of farming land, and to prevent floods in the city bay.
These projects are part of an ambitious national programme that the government is committed to implementing, in accordance with His Majesty`s instructions, to expand the highway network as well as to speed up the development of drinking water infrastructure and the construction of dams to promote economic development in Morocco.
The signature ceremony was attended by Mrs. Amina Benkhadra, Minister of Energy, Mining, Water and the Environment, Mr. Karim Ghallab, Minister of Equipment and Transportation, Mr. Abdelkebir Zahoud, Under-Secretary of State for Energy, Mining, Water and the Environment, in charge of Water and the Environment.
During the signature ceremony, Mr. Mezouar and Mr. Al Hamad examined the wide-ranging financial cooperation between Morocco and the AFESD, and praised the quality of this cooperation, which illustrates the friendship and the mutual respect existing between Morocco and the Fund. Mr. Mezouar and Mr. Al Hamad expressed their determination to work together in order to consolidate this cooperation and partnership.
In his address, Mr. Mezouar expressed his satisfaction with the support and the assistance which the Fund continues to provide to the development of Morocco`s infrastructure. He further underlined Morocco`s satisfaction with the Fund`s financial contribution to economic development projects in Morocco, with an overall figure in excess of US$ 3 billion as of 2008, and which mainly related to agricultural infrastructure, dams, ports, airports, and highways. He also stressed the positive results of cooperation schemes between Morocco and AFESD.
Mr. MEZOUAR called for the consolidation of this cooperation through financing the major development projects Morocco is undertaking. Such projects offer opportunities to consolidate relations between Moroccan enterprises and AFESD, in view of reinforcing exchange, accrued investment programmes and mutually beneficial partnerships. Mr. MEZOUAR also expressed his satisfaction with AFESD`s financial assistance to finance Moroccan highway projects and other development programmes.
For his part, Mr. Abdellatif Youssef Al Hamad highlighted the significant progress Morocco had made in consolidating its infrastructure and other socio-economic domains. He said he had been honoured to be a privileged partner of the Kingdom of Morocco, a country with no resources, such as oil, to exploit in its investment programmes, but with natural potentialities. AFESD`s CEO also expressed his satisfaction with the signature of this loan agreement, asserting that AFESD would always be ready to contribute, in the years to come, in the financing of other projects within different sectors. He also reaffirmed his determination to consolidate cooperation between Morocco and AFESD, through encouraging partnership programmes and increasing business turnover.