Morocco attends US drought commission

Morocco attended the meetings of the U.S. national drought commission held last July 22-23 in Washington as observer member.

Morocco was the only foreign country participating in the commission meetings as observer, a statement by the Moroccan agriculture department said, adding the observer status was granted to Morocco during the visit Moroccan Minister of Agriculture Habib Malki paid to the United States last May.

This participation translates Morocco's will to set up a strategy of struggle against drought, based on local specificities and drawing lessons from international experience.

The delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture which represented Morocco at the meeting expounded Morocco's initiative to set up a national observatory for drought, and the US commission members voiced readiness to cooperate with the kingdom in the field.

Morocco, where agriculture represents nearly 20% of the GDP, suffers from cyclical droughts.

The US commission, set up at the initiative of the Congress and approved by the US president on July 16, 1999, musters 16 members that uphold the standpoints and concerns of both the government and groups of interest (producers, bankers, water users, ecologists etc...).

The commission will have to submit to the president and to the Congress within the 18 months following its inception a detailed report on the drought struggle strategy at the level of the federal government and the modes of integrating the federal laws and programs within the state and local programs of struggle against drought.