Morocco to spend 1 percent of GDP on scientific research
Morocco, Science, 7/24/2002

Moroccan state secretary for scientific research, Omar Fassi Fihri, said in Tangiers Monday Morocco has been since 2001 allocating 0.7% of its GDP to scientific research and the rate is scheduled to reach 1% before the end of the five year 200-2004 plan.

The official said the percentage of funds earmarked to scientific research has grown from 0.3% in 1998 to 0.7% in 2001 and is scheduled to each 1% before 2004.

Articles published by Moroccan researchers in international scientific magazines went up from 400 in the period between 1991 and 1996 to 860 in the 1997-2000 period and reached 1,065 in 2001, he went on noting that Morocco now is Africa's 3rd most prolific country and the Arab world's 2nd.

However, he stressed, Morocco only published 0.1% of scientific research papers worldwide, compared to 37% for the European Union countries, 34% for the USA, 31% for south-east Asian countries and 1.1% for Israel. The official ascribed Morocco's lagging behind in scientific research to the absence of well adapted scientific structure and the lack of scientific centers.

Fihri further deplored the low number of invention patents deposited annually in Morocco (about 500), as compares to 25,000 in the USA, 6,000 in France, 4,000 in Japan.

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