Highlights

Mr. Mohammed BOUSSAID, Minister of Economy and Finance, and Mr. Abdeltif Youssef Al Hamd , CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), chaired ,Wednesday, January 28^th , 2015 in Rabat the signing ceremony of a financing agreement amounting to 1.4 Billion Dirhams, of which 900 million Dirhams to help in the financing of the highway El Jadida- Safi, and 450 million dirhams for the project of drinking water supply of the city of Chefchaouen and the neighboring villages.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Director General of the National Office of Water and Electricity, and the Director General of the Company of Motorways of Morocco.

In his speech, the Minister of Economy and Finance thanked the President of the Board of (AFESD) for the special interest that this Fund shows to the Kingdom of Morocco through the financing of its development projects.

The Minister also stated that these projects are part of an ambitious strategy that Morocco wishes to apply under the guidance of His Majesty King Mohamed VI may God Glorify him, both in strengthening the motorway network in Morocco, and also in terms of the interest that should be granted to the sector of Water and to strengthening efforts to meet the growing drinking water requirements. The objective is to support the economic and social growth rate.

The Minister stressed that the signing of the financing agreement is a further step in the process of the close and constructive cooperation between the (AFESD) and Morocco.

In addition, Mr. BOUSSAID took the opportunity to thank the Fund for its wish to participate in financing the project of the Port of Nador West Mediterranean with an amount of 1.4 Billion Dirhams. The Minister asserted that this program is likely to reinforce Morocco's positioning as an important logistic infrastructure at the regional and Arab level pursuant to the vision of His Majesty the King may God glorify him.

Meanwhile, Mr.Abdeltif Youssef Al Hamd welcomed the quality of the excellent relations between the Kingdom and the (AFESD), stressing, on this occasion, the growing interest of the Fund in Morocco by participating in the financing of economic and social development projects.

It’s worth noting that the (AFESD) is an Arab financial institution established in 1971 to help Arab countries to develop their economies through loans, technical assistance and institutional support.

During the period 2010-2014, the (AFESD) involved in projects vital for the Moroccan economy, amounting to 9.5 billion dirhams. These financings concerned highways, ports, dams, drinking water and irrigation.