Mr. Salaheddine MEZOUAR, Minister of Economy and Finance received February 15th 2010, at the headquarters of the Ministry, Ms. Shamshad Akhtar, Vice President of the Region Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank.
During the meeting, Mr. MEZOUAR and Ms. Akhtar reviewed the cooperation between Morocco and the World Bank. They stressed that the Bank is a privileged partner that provides continued support to economic and social development efforts in the country through financing structural and sectoral reform programs and investment projects. In this respect, Mr. Mezouar stressed the importance of Morocco- the World Bank relationships. These links are perceived through the strategic cooperation program 2005-2009, which hitherto achieved twelve transactions of over $ 1.4 billion, covering reform programs as well as investment projects. |  |
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Mr. Mezouar welcomed the unanimous adoption by the Bank`s Board of Directors of the new Partnership Framework 2010-2013 instead of the CAS 2005-2009.In this respect, he underlined the high degree of convergence of views between authorities and the World Bank and stressed ,besides two transversal themes that are territoriality and governance, the relevance of the three thematic pillars of the Partnership Framework, which are: growth, competitiveness and employment as well as Citizens` Services and sustainable development and climate change.
Moreover, Mr. MEZOUAR requested the institution to support Morocco`s projects undertaken by the Government, namely in fields such as justice, health, agriculture and regionalization.
With respect to the annual budget provision, the Bank was asked, in the context of this partnership, to make a more substantial annual contribution and provide more flexibility in order to handle future problems related to the competitiveness of Moroccan economy and the changing national and international context.
The Bank officials were satisfied with the results of the cooperation with Morocco and with the planned strategic partnership for the period 2010-2013. They expressed the commitment of the Bank to continue supporting the country in its ongoing process of reform and development.
After the meeting, Mr. MEZOUAR and Ms. Akhtar signed the loan amounting to 133 million euros meant for the financial sector support program. The latter will include maintaining government efforts in promoting long-term savings, strengthening financial supervision and increasing access of households and small and medium enterprises to financing while sustaining the financial system stability.