Morocco / United States Strategic Partnership

Subject 

Planned actions 

Political dialogue 

High-level political dialogue: 

Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation to meet once a year in Washington or in Rabat. 

Share assessment and analysis on : 

regional issues such as African Affairs, Middle East Peace Process, Maghreb, Sahel-Saharan region 

multilateral issues such as Peace Keeping, Terrorism, Environment and Human Rights. 

Coordinate actions at the UN and other international forums 

Human rights dialogue: 

Strengthening of the existing Human rights dialogue and extending it to thematic meetings on Press freedom, civil society, freedom of speech, etc. 

Extension of the dialogue to cooperation, capacity building and exchange of best practices. 

Regional cooperation 

Morocco/US cooperation in the MENA region: 

Morocco provides experts and advisors on developing civil society and political cooperation (regional training center for Governments officials, NGOs, community leaders, youth, etc.) 

Triangular aid on the advancement of the role of women 

Establishment of a Gender institute in Morocco 

Morocco/US cooperation in the Maghreb : 

Implementation of the US/North Africa Entrepreneurship initiative: 

Next summit to be held in Morocco in October 2011 

Morocco could host a Regional Enterprise Fund, similar to the SEED banks set up by the US in Eastern Europe (capacity building of small and medium sized enterprises, equity capital investments, extension of financial services, etc.). One of the first actions taken could be to invigorate the Morocco-US FTA to develop enterprise activities in target countries to accelerate economic growth and job development 

Regional scientific cooperation. Morocco to host the US Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation (Cairo initiative), to be held in June 2011. 

Morocco/US cooperation in Africa 

Triangular cooperation towards African countries: 

Cooperation between the development agencies of both countries (USAID and AMCI) 

Cooperation in the fields of agriculture, water, health and environment. 

Dialogue on crisis management / resolution in Africa. 

Security cooperation 

Establishment of a bilateral security committee addressing a wide range of issues, such as drug trafficking, terrorism and human trafficking (3 reports of the State Department) 

Morocco to join the Global Counter Terrorism Forum to be officially launched in September 2011 

Military cooperation 

Economic and trade cooperation 

Establishment of a US/Morocco Business Council: 

Composed of private sector representatives from both countries 

That issues recommendation for an enhanced cooperation in the field and a better implementation of the FTA 

Strengthened cooperation on agriculture and renewable energies. 

Scientific and Cultural cooperation 

Establishment of “Excellence centers” in the field of public health, on the basis of the existing health centers and in cooperation with counterparts in the US 

Joint initiatives aiming at the promotion of tolerance, religious dialogue and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism. 

Strengthening of exchange programs for scholars, students, artists 

Increasing the number of beneficiaries of Fullbright scholarships 

Intensifying the learning of English language