Morocco among countries to benefit from French 'co-development' policy

Morocco is among four African countries to benefit from the "co-development" policy initiated by the French government to help foreign communities settled in France invest in their native countries.

The three other countries to benefit from this policy are Mali, Senegal and Comoros islands, announced here Wednesday, French minister of cooperation, Pierre-Andre Wiltzer, at the end of a cabinet meeting.

"The government has decided to boost its policy of co-development by inciting the foreign communities' elite to invest in development projects in their countries of origin," said the French minister who was quoted by the government's spokesman, jean-Francois Cope.

"The four countries have been chosen because of "the importance, the degree of organization and the dynamism of the communities in France but especially because of their countries' wish to associate them to their development policies," he explained.

Wiltzer also emphasized the need to mobilize the thousands of teachers, doctors, researchers, engineers, computer scientists trained in France "towards development actions in their native countries ."

These two programs, to start in 2004, will be financed partly by the French foreign affairs ministry.