The speech addressed by King Mohammed VI to parliamentarians on the occasion of the opening of the first session of the 2nd legislative year of the 11th legislature focused on two issues, urgent priorities, namely water resources and the call for the promotion of investment and the creation of a new attractive dynamic, both internally and externally as well as internationally.
Solicited by MoroccoLatestNews UK, Omar Kettani, economist, professor of economics at the University Mohammed V in Rabat and member of Asmeci (Moroccan Association for Studies and Research in Islamic Economics), of his customary benevolence gave us his impressions of this event. “The royal speech targeted two important aspects, food security by talking about water and job security which is directly linked to the configuration of investment and the conditions to accelerate it. “, he says.
The first, according to the academic is therefore, “the aspect of food security with regard to the water and drought crisis and their impact on the agricultural sector and its consequences, of course, financial in terms of the need to buy on the international market, hence the dependence of the food economy on a fundamental food problem which is “bread“ through the purchase of cereals “.
On this first part, Omar Kettani still assures, “ the sovereign gave a number of directives, such as first of all the saving of water through technologies that save water consumption, rationality in its use and consumption, the education of society for less wasting water. Then there is the link between the water sector and the other sectors that are precisely linked to it”.
And Omar Kettani to develop, “ There, I am thinking in particular of reforestation and the policy of covering the area of Morocco with forests, which only affects 8% of the territory when it must cover at least 20%. In fact, to attract water, the reforestation policy must be accelerated”. I think that the royal speech implicitly links this to the water saving policy with other sectors and I am thinking in particular of reforestation”.
Then passing to the cost our interlocutor says that “there is also the fact of taking into consideration the cost of this water saving and therefore all the measures related to the cost of the installations and all the equipment necessary for the latter “. As for the second aspect, which is that of investment, Omar Kettani explains: In this case, the Sovereign’s speech advocates decentralization and the encouragement of regional investment centers in order to benefit certain regions of Morocco which are somewhat neglected in terms of investment efforts. Also in this context“the Sovereign has emphasized the simplification of the terms and conditions for accepting investment projects “.
The professor of economics at the Mohammed V University in Rabat explains how to do this:It will also be necessary to create an investment ecosystem by fighting against bureaucracy through digitization and the facilitation of the land assets necessary for investment projects. Equipping the latter and providing them with green energy for their factories, and strengthening the financial means of these projects, in short, a set of measures “.
Omar Kettani then questions the common link between the first measures concerning water and those of the second relating to investment. “This is a very important message in the royal speech. It is the acceleration of these measures, it is the speed necessary given the urgency of the situation“. The Sovereign, continues our interlocutor, “orients towards priority to these two sectors, but in addition it sends a very clear message, which is that measures in these two sectors concerning food security and job security must be taken in a rapid and accelerated“.
He is pointing out that “these are directives to the government and essentially to the government to say that there is urgency on food security and that of employment and that therefore the acceleration of investment and the facilitation of private investment and also the public are needed more than ever. Authorizations will have to be granted with fewer obstacles, fewer difficulties and less bureaucracy. All this goes in the direction of acceleration and nothing but acceleration. This is very important, because the King expects results that are tangible and rapid“.