Morocco: WB Supervision Team hails work accomplished by Blue Economy Program

The World Bank team in charge of the supervision mission of the Blue Economy Program, conducted jointly with the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance October 17 to 26, congratulated various partners and the program management unit (PMU) for all the work accomplished.

“At the end of the supervision mission, the World Bank team congratulated the various partners and the PMU for all the work done since the beginning of this program and issued recommendations on future activities to come,” said the Ministry and the WB in a joint statement.

Morocco and the WB signed in June this year a loan agreement of $350 million destined for the blue economy program, which aims to unlock the economic potential of this new engine of growth through sustainable development of marine and coastal resources and improved institutional coordination vertically and horizontally, within and between the sectors concerned, said the statement.

The program is based on three pillars namely, national food security, economic development and job creation, and the protection and use of natural resources.

The project, led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance through the program management unit, coordinates eight implementing entities.

These are the Department of Maritime Fishing (DPM), the Moroccan Society of Tourism Engineering (SMIT), the Department of Sustainable Development (DDD), the Moroccan National Office of Tourism (ONMT), the National Agency for Water and Forests (ANEF), the Directorate of Ports and Public Maritime Domain (DPDPM), the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ANDA) and the National Institute of Fisheries Research (INRH).