Moroccan environment minister winds up visit to Paris
Morocco-France, Environment, 10/25/1999

Moroccan minister in charge of territory planning, environment, urbanism and housing, Mohamed Yazghi, on Saturday wound up a three-day visit to Paris at the invitation of French peer, Dominique Voynet.

Yazghi conferred with several members of the French cabinet, including Foreign and Interior ministers, Hubert Vedrine and Jean-pierre Chevenement, and minister of equipment, transport and lodgings, Jean Claude Gayssot.

During the separate talks he held with Gayssot as well as with French secretary of state for lodgings, focus was laid on low-cost housing, Morocco wishing to benefit from France's experience in matters of low-rent lodgings, lodgings oriented savings, and forms of assistance to housing promotion.

Morocco's projects to set up a national housing assistance fund and a national housing observatory were also discussed with the French interlocutors, Yazghi told MAP bureau here before leaving the French capital.

A French expert will visit Morocco in December to help set up the housing observatory while director general of the department of urbanism and construction, Lemas, will make a trip to Rabat in the coming weeks to further talks with Moroccan executives on means to enhance the exchange of experience, said Yazghi, who expressed satisfaction at the outcome of his visit to France. He called on French economic operators to invest in housing and urbanism projects in Morocco.

Talks with the French interior minister focused on the situation of the France-based Moroccan community -- which is assessed at nearly 720,000 souls-- and on immigration related problems.

The actions conducted in Morocco by NGOs set up by Moroccan native French and the proximity cooperation programs launched in some parts of the kingdom were also examined, in addition to the situation in the Mediterranean at large.

The situation in the Mediterranean and the Euro-Mediterranean partnership were also tackled at Yazghi's talks with the French foreign minister Vedrine.

Yazghi insisted on the need to increase the European Union's assistance to South Mediterranean countries, saying this assistance should at least be equal to the assistance extended to Eastern Europe.

The situation in the Maghreb and the Middle East process in addition to Moroccan-French relations and cooperation prospects were also discussed at the Yazghi-Vedrine meeting.

Yazghi's accompanying delegation took part in a round table on wastes processing, risks management policy, environment policies financing, environment taxes, water supply companies and other environment-related issues.

Dominique Voynet paid a visit to Morocco last September, during which the two sides signed a joint statement voicing determination to set up a technical committee, within the frame of the Moroccan-French joint commission, that will deal with territory planning, environment and urbanism.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan environment minister in Paris   (10/22/1999)
  Morocco, Egypt agree to foster environment cooperation   (10/20/1999)
  Morocco ready to share its water management experience   (9/29/1999)

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