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President Calls for Free Trade Agreement with Morocco
Remarks by the President and His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco in Photo
Opportunity
The Oval Office
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to welcome His Majesty the King of Morocco, to
the Oval Office. We've had a really good discussion about a number of matters.
No question that Morocco is a great friend of the United States of America
and for that, Your Majesty, we are very grateful. I appreciate your steadfast
support when it comes to the war on terror. I appreciate your leadership in
the region.
Today, I've informed His Majesty that our government will work to enact a free trade agreement with Morocco. It's in our nation's interest that we do so. His Majesty believes it's in his nation's interest that we have a free trade agreement, as well. President George W. Bush talks with His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco in the Oval Office Tuesday, April 23. "Today, I've informed His Majesty that our government will work to enact a free trade agreement with Morocco," said the President to the media. "Trade is an important part of good foreign policy, it's an important part of making sure Americans can find jobs." White House photo by Eric Draper.
To this end, it's very important that the United States Senate act on free trade, to give me the trade promotion authority, as well as to work on -- and the extension of the Andean Trade Preference Act. Trade is an important part of good foreign policy, it's an important part of making sure Americans can find jobs. And the Senate needs to act, and it needs to act now.
We will continue our discussions over lunch. I look forward to those discussions. His Majesty brings a lot of knowledge, a lot of vision and it's my honor to welcome him here to the Oval Office. Your Majesty.
KING MOHAMMED: Thank you. Well, I as I told you, I would ask that it's easier to translate me and it'll be easier for me and safer for you. (Laughter.)
His Majesty wishes to thank you, Mr. President, for the words you have just expressed about Morocco, and words which honor His Majesty personally, the Royal Family as well as the entire Moroccan people.
We are honored for the relations we have enjoyed so far with the United States. But I think it's time that we have to shift the gear to go on higher speed. And we have also -- we are determined to carry out all kinds of programs dealing with our cooperation, our collaboration, all fields.
With respect to terrorism, Mr. President, we are also determined to go ahead with you in fighting terrorism. And this is something of concern to Morocco as much as it's of concern to the United States and all democratic people in the world.
With respect to the free trade zone which you have just announced, Mr. President, I would like to thank you and to tell you how much we appreciate this initiative coming from yourself, Mr. President, and to the United States. We will work closely with your collaborators, in particular, Mr. Zoellick, who I have met twice and who will be visiting Morocco together with his colleagues. We will work very closely with them in order to bring about the democratization of this program of cooperation and friendship between the United States and Morocco.
His Majesty wishes, Mr. President, to praise the efforts you personally make and your administration to promote peace and understanding in the world. He wishes also to thank and to praise Mr. Secretary of State Colin Powell for what he has done so far, and especially the effort he just deployed lately and the visit in the region of which we are beginning to see the results.
And His Majesty wishes that the Secretary of State would have recovered by now from the trauma he has had when he first met with His Majesty in Agadir. (Laughter.)
And I would like to thank also Mrs. Tutweiler for the excellent work she has been doing since she arrived in Morocco.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Your Majesty. We'll answer a couple of questions, or I will. Barry.
Q Mr. President, on that trip, the Secretary came home with an Israeli idea, but others said similar things, for an international peace conference. And since he's been home, the White House reaction seems to be a little lukewarm. Is that something you think is a viable idea, a foreign ministers conference, perhaps?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it's first important to know that our government means what we say, and we said that the only way for there to be lasting peace is for there to be two states living side by side at peace with each other.
And, secondly, that in order to achieve that vision, all parties have responsibilities. The Arab world has responsibilities, and we'll work with them to delineate those responsibilities and to encourage them to accept those responsibilities. Mr. Arafat has got responsibilities, and that is not only to renounce terrorism, but to fight terror. Mr. Sharon has got responsibilities, and that is to continue withdrawal.
There is a strategy in place. We're analyzing all options to help achieve this vision. And I look forward to visiting with His Majesty about ideas, such as a conference. The key is, however, for the leaders of the world to work toward that vision by assuming, accepting and acting on the responsibilities necessary to achieve peace.
Q Mr. President, are you concerned that the long hours and the pressure of working in this building will drive away more people, like Karen Hughes? And would you be here without her?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, Your Majesty, one of my close friends and advisor has informed the White House today that she is moving back to Texas. And the reason why is, is because her husband and son will be happier in Texas, and she had put her family ahead of her service to my government. And I am extremely grateful for that approach and that priority. And Karen Hughes will be changing her address, but she will still be in my inner circle. I value her judgment and I will have her judgment. I value her advice, I have her advice. And I value her friendship, and I will have her friendship.
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Textile
Morocco, attractive for investment
By Morad Aziz | Morocco TIMES 9/5/2005 | 5:36 pm
Morocco remains a very attractive country for investment in the textile sector,
given its proximity to the European market and the commercial agreements signed
with the European Commission, said Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Industry,
Trade and Economy Upgrading.
Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Industry, Trade and Economy Upgrading. Ph:
Archives.
In an interview with the French weekly magazine Jeune Afrique l'Intelligent, Mezouar added that the Kingdom managed to attract until last May three big investments in textile estimated at USD 300 million.
The first two investments were made by “Tavex” and “Legler”. These will manufacture materials for jeans, while the third one “Fruit of the Loom” has set up an integrated entity of production.
The implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the USA “will offer us new perspectives of foreign markets”, he added.
The Minister, however, highlighted the necessity to adapt the national strategy to “meet in a better way the evolutions of the demand in Europe and the United States”. The idea is to manufacture products with strong added value and move from subcontracting to co-contracting.
In the same vein, Karim Tazi, president of the Moroccan Association of the Textile and Clothing Industry, known by its French acronym AMTTH, said that “Moroccans do not lack skills” to face the flood of Chinese products.
He told Jeune Afrique l'Intelligent he is convinced that Morocco will reconquer some parts of the markets in the years to come, adding that the investments of Tavex, Legler and the Fruit of the Loom are only the beginning.
“The three groups want to make Morocco a plat-form for exportation,” Tazi said.
“Now we are paying the price of our incapability to have undertaken reforms at the right time,” he affirmed, adding that he is nevertheless “not worried about the future”.
According to the magazine, the kingdom intends to benefit from the Free Trade Agreement signed with Washington and also from the Barcelona Process that aims at creating a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Zone.
He recalled that Moroccan clothing exports decreased by 12.9 % in the first six months of the current year (MAD 8.401 billion against MAD 9.648 billion in the same period last year).
“In order to regain the jobs lost in the middle term, we can inspire the experience of the French manufacturers of textile in Sentier, Paris. They abandoned the wholesale clothing to focus on fashion and restocking,” concluded Tazi.
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Morocco's prestigious new Tangier Med port has been grabbing headlines in the kingdom recently, as a major US agency offered a healthy grant for port security and a 10-year management contract was awarded.
While Rabat hopes the new port facility will boost jobs and act as a regional trade magnet, Washington sees the project's success as enhancing its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Morocco - and providing a further step forward in the liberalisation of the economy.
On July 22, US Ambassador to Morocco Thomas T. Riley and the president of the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA) directory, Säid Elhadi, signed a grant agreement under which the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded USD 374,000 to fund technical assistance to the port. The grant will be to help the TMSA meet the requirements of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code, Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and the Container Security Initiative (CSI).
The TMSA will now select a US contractor to provide these security services for the port.
This represents one of the latest stages in Tangier Med's development, a process that has been underway since 2002, when the TMSA was founded and placed in charge. Construction at the present site began back in 2003.
The port is currently being constructed on a site 35-km east of Tangier. When completed, it will cover an area of over 500 sq km and employ some 145,000 people.
Within the facility, three duty free zones will also be built, with these including an industrial zone covering 600 ha, a commercial duty free zone of 200 ha and a logistics free zone of 90 ha.
On these there was further news recently, when back in June it was announced that Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) International had been awarded the 10-year logistics free zone management concession at the port. This was an important achievement for the company, which already has free zone management experience outside Dubai, in both Djibouti and at Malaysia's Port Klang Free Zone.
The management contract follows the completion of a four-month feasibility study by JAFZA International into Tangier's suitability for a logistics free zone, the results of which were encouraging enough for both JAFZA and the TMSA to proceed, officials said on June 22. However, neither JAFZA nor TMSA officials would reveal the contract's value.
Both the port and the free zones at Tangier Med are due to open for business in September 2007. The idea behind the whole facility is a simple and straightforward one. Tangier's strategic location near the Strait of Gibraltar makes it a natural not only for trade between the Mediterranean and the rest of the world, but also between Europe and North Africa. The larger docking facilities available will also bring down transport costs to Morocco by bringing in higher tonnage vessels.
The existing Tangier free zone also recently demonstrated the potential value of Tangier Med. The July 25 edition of pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that since this zone had been established back in 1999, it had created some 16,000 jobs. The paper also reported that approximately 115 Moroccan and foreign companies were located in the area, with another 77 companies expected to come soon. As a result, the total number of jobs provided by the free zone was expected to reach 22,000 by the year's end.
Given this, the much larger Tanger Med port facility is expected to also give a major boost to local employment.
Yet it is also aimed at a more far-reaching structural goal. Since the TMSA took charge of the port's development, it has pursued a transparent approach to tendering and a positive attitude towards private-sector involvement. This follows the government's objective of opening up the economy, which is also one of the targets of the US-Moroccan FTA and the European Union-Moroccan Association Agreement.
The port project supports the broadened commercial relationship envisioned under the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, as a statement from the US embassy on the awarding of the security grant put it.
The eventual cost of the project is a matter of some conjecture, but official
estimates put a price tag of USD 1.37bn to Tangier Med. This is being partly
financed by the Hassan II Fund for Development (USD 228m) and the Abu Dhabi
Fund for Development (USD 342m), but the rest will all have to come from private
investors.
So far, this is working out well, with the TMSA also clearly leaning on its Emirati connections in bringing in JAFZA, which brings great experience with it. The hope is that Tangier Med will act as a good example for change, and of the benefits of a much-debated move towards more free trade.
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