Morocco expresses reservations about World Bank report on justice reform

The Moroccan government has expressed some reservations about a report of the World Bank on the assessment of the judicial and juridical system in the kingdom, saying it contains "observations and conclusions that do not reflect reality."

These reservations were expressed by Moroccan justice Minister at a meeting, Rabat Tuesday, of the "orientation council" set up as part of a cooperation program with the World Bank for the reform of the justice system and improve the legal business environment.

Mohamed Bouzoubaa explained that the report contains "wrong or non updated data, and fails to mention the various achievements in the past years in the different aspects of the justice reform."

He said that his department will convey these observations to the World Bank in order to include them in the report.

During the meeting which also assessed the cooperation program with the World Bank, Bouzoubaa said this project costs 6.73 million dollars of which 5.3 millions are financed by the Moroccan government.

The program, he added, aims at modernizing justice of commerce and trade courts in Morocco.

Bouzoubaa said the project also received 34 million Euros in a cooperation program with the European Union and another program worth US$ 3.2 million with the United States Agency for International development (USAID).