Only 0.3 percent of Morocco's GDP go to scientific research, deplores an official

A Moroccan official has deplored that only 0.3 to 0.4 percent of Morocco's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are allotted to scientific research.

The weakness of the funds injected in scientific research are a major problem, Omar Fassi Fihri, Secretary of State for Scientific Research, said, lamenting that even the available material and human resources are not exploited adequately.

The official, who was interviewed by local Al-Alam daily, called for increasing the funds earmarked to scientific research to at least 1 percent of the GDP by the end of the present decade.

Fihri noted that the Moroccan government has devised a strategy to promote scientific research. The strategy, to be implemented part of the five-year development plan, will seek to enhance financing the activity and identifying priority fields for the country's development.