King Hassan II chairs national colloquy on employment

King Hassan II opened this Saturday in Marrakesh (central Morocco) the national colloquy on employment, which the king called for during last July's speech on the youth day.

The three-day colloquy, gathering representatives from the government, parliament, local councils, private sector, non-governmental organizations and unemployed university graduates, will look into ways of promoting employment and adapting education and training to the job market.

The colloquy will draw up an action program and a national strategy to provide jobs annually to some 25,000 young university graduates as it was announced by the sovereign in his youth day speech.

A committee will be set up to follow up the implementation of decisions to be reached by the colloquy.

Unemployment rate in Morocco, which counts 28-million inhabitants, ranges between 16 and 18% of the 5 million-strong working population.

The Moroccan Socialist-led government has voiced its resolve to lower the unemployment rate from 18% to 5% in the coming years.