Mr. Nizar BARAKA, Minister of Economy and Finance and Mrs. Amani Abou Zeid, the ADB resident representative in Morocco, signed, Friday, September 7th 2012 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, a loan agreement between Morocco and the African Development Bank (BAD) of an amount of 105 million Euros (approximately 1.2 billion dirhams) to finance Morocco Green Plan support program (PMV).
Within the framework of the support to Green Morocco Plan, this program aims to improve the agricultural production and the living conditions of the farming and rural populations.It also aims at preserving the increasingly rare water resources.
The aforementioned program introduces cross-sectoral synergies by combining energy saving and water saving in the agricultural sector and by integrating components such as the agricultural council, the development of the agropoles or the agricultural insurance in order to accompany the implementation of Morocco Green Plan.
Mr. Baraka and Mrs. Abou Zeid also signed a letter of agreement of the gift of 650,000 Euros, granted by the Fund to middle income countries, to finance the realization of a research on the economic growth and employment in Morocco.
This research project will allow a better visibility of the implications of the outline of economic growth on employment and will provide options regarding the institutional promotion of employment, as well as better integration of employment issues in public policies.
During his speech at the ceremony, the Minister was pleased with the cooperative relations between Morocco and the BAD, qualifying the PMV as a "very advanced" program. The signing of these two agreements reflected the will of the Government to achieve its priorities in the economic and social fields, he underlined.
In addition, Mrs. Abu Zeid recalled the excellent cooperation relations between the Kingdom and the BAD which dated to more than 40 years.
"Morocco is the first customer of the BAD", she indicated, specifying that the active portfolio of the Bank to Morocco amounted to net commitments of 22 billion dirhams The main focus of the cooperation with the ADB is infrastructure, renewable energy, transportation, water and sanitation fields. The other commitments support public reforms, private sector and agriculture.