Morocco, EU Sign Implementation Document of PRIMA research & innovation Program

Morocco and the European Union signed, on Monday in Brussels, the administrative arrangement for the implementation of the scientific and technological cooperation agreement laying down the conditions and modalities for the Kingdom’s participation in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean area (PRIMA).

Morocco became a participating state in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean area (PRIMA), a joint program undertaken within the frame of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, under an agreement signed on 10 April 2018.

The program aims to build up research and innovation capacities and to develop much-needed solutions for a more sustainable management of water and agro-food systems in the Mediterranean region, where the agricultural sector has been suffering from severe water shortages and decreasing crop yields and where 180 million people are considered ‘water poor’, knowing that lack of clean water and nutritious food has adverse effects on the health and stability of the populations.

The main objective of the ten-year initiative (2018 – 2028), which is partly funded by EU’s research and innovation program Horizon 2020 (€220 million contribution) and participating countries (currently €274 million), is to devise new R&I approaches to improve water availability and sustainable agriculture production in a region heavily distressed by climate change, urbanization and population growth, the EU explains in a press release.

The partnership currently consists of 19 participating countries: Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.