Morocco, Germany sign cooperation protocol on solid waste management

Morocco and the German North Rhine-Westphalia Land signed in Dusseldorf on Monday evening a cooperation protocol on solid waste management.

Under the accord, a pilot project will be set up in Morocco to serve as a demonstration model on solid waste management for public and private partners (municipalities, local councils, enterprises, civil society).

Morocco's secretary of state for environment, Ahmed Iraqui, who initialed the protocol, told MAP's bureau in Germany that the pilot project will explain to Moroccan operators the interest and reliability of environmental technologies.

Iraqui who started a three-day visit to Germany on Monday to get firsthand information on German high tech in matters of struggle against industrial pollution and waste treatment said Germany boasts a highly advanced technology in waste processing.This technology does not automatically meet Morocco's specific needs but can serve as a basis for drawing a national solid waste management strategy, he said.

The Moroccan official will confer with several German officials and will visit a number of waste treatment facilities, training centers and utility services. He will also confer with executives of the German company for technical cooperation, "GTZ," and the German construction institute "KFW." The two institutions are in charge of financial and technical cooperation between Morocco and Germany.

Germany is contributing to several social and economic development projects in Morocco including a project that extends financial assistance to Moroccan environment-friendly industrial enterprises.