Government spokesperson, Mustapha Baitas addressed the Morocco-U.S. partnership in response to a query regarding the 10% tariffs imposed by the new U.S. administration, asserting that “the Morocco-U.S. partnership is a strategic and multifaceted alliance.”
He emphasized, during the press briefing following Thursday’s government council meeting, that Morocco is the only African nation to have a free trade agreement with the United States, a deal which he argued serves as a robust foundation for the bilateral relationship, and reiterated that Morocco is prepared to strengthen this agreement, especially given its role as a gateway for investment into Africa.
Concerning the issue of sheep imports for Eid al-Adha amidst conflicting statements and figures, Baitas referred to a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, and Water and Forests on Wednesday, which confirmed that the total cost of supporting sheep imports over the past two years had amounted to 437 million dirhams, with 244 million dirhams allocated for 2024.
He chose not to comment on the request for a judicial inquiry into the beneficiaries of the support or the specifics of the expenditure, merely asserting that “the information provided in the ministry’s statement is sufficiently clear, and it is enough to refer to it for a comprehensive understanding of the matter.”
In the context of social security reform, Baitas noted that the government had approved two decrees aimed at ensuring fairness for thousands of workers who, for various reasons, had left the workforce without benefiting from pension schemes, stipulating that those with 1,320 days of social security contributions would now be eligible for pensions.
One of the decrees specifically addresses seafarers, aiming to resolve issues arising from involuntary work stoppages such as biological rest periods, marking this as a significant initiative by the government to safeguard workers’ rights and reinforce its commitment to establishing the foundations of a social state in Morocco.
Baitas highlighted that the government session today focused on both ensuring fairness for workers and engaging in the ongoing educational reform process, which he described as essential for any economic revival, underscoring that the government had the political courage to implement several far-reaching reforms in response to trade union demands within the framework of social dialogue, with the cost of these measures reaching approximately 46 billion dirhams.
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