Investment, water management… The new Pacts
This is one of the main challenges to be met to ensure a post-crisis economic recovery. In his speech at the opening of the parliamentary session, HM the King insisted on the central role of productive investment. This is considered an “essential lever for the revival of the national economy and the anchoring of Morocco in promising sectors”.
It is a matter of betting on sectors offering job opportunities to young people and ensuring sources of financing for the various social and development programs. The Sovereign openly called on the government, as well as on the private and banking sectors, to translate their commitments into a national investment pact. The goal is to mobilize investments worth 550 billion Dirhams (50 billion USDs), and to create 500,000 jobs, during the 2022-2026 period. To achieve this, several mechanisms must be rolled out, starting with the judicious implementation of the new National Investment Charter. The latter must “give tangible impetus to the attractiveness of Morocco for private investors, both national and foreign”. One of the first challenges is to remove the obstacles that continue to hinder an effective revival of national investment, at all levels, especially that in terms of the business climate, despite the structural reforms that have made it possible to improve Morocco’s performance in this area, “much remains to be done to release energy, make the most of the national potential, encourage private initiative, and attract more foreign investment.”
The development of investments is certainly decisive to ensure economic recovery, but the management of the water problem will determine the future of the whole country.
Currently, the issue of water resource management is all the more acute as the country is going through the most intense period of drought it has known for more than three decades. Nevertheless, “regardless of the rainfall, which will mark the years to come, we are committed to accelerating the implementation of the program of dams, whose projects are spread across the entire Kingdom” , said the Sovereign. Indeed, more than 50 new large or medium-sized structures have been erected and 20 others are in progress. HM the King insisted on the completion of the construction of the scheduled dams, the establishment of hydraulic interconnections, and the construction of seawater desalination stations. This is coupled with the guarantee of water savings, particularly in terms of irrigation.
At the same time, the Sovereign warned against any exploitation of this strategic issue. “The water problem should not be used as a pretext for political one-upmanship, nor as an argument to fuel social tensions”, said the Sovereign. All Moroccans are called upon to show responsibility for the rational use of water. “This requires a real change in behavior in our relationship to water”.
M.A.M.
