First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco has been re-elected for the third consecutive time to the co-Chairmanship of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), which seeks to reduce the vulnerability of people worldwide to terrorism by preventing, combating, and prosecuting terrorist acts. During its third mandate, Morocco will co-chair this international forum with Canada from 2020 to 2022, after it co-chaired […]
OCP has signed a €80 million deal with Finland’s Outotec to build a sulphuric acid plant, an investment that comes only few days after the Moroccan phosphates exporter signed a €255 million agreement with Spain’s Intecsa to build two similar plants. The new plants will help OCP maintain leadership in the phosphates-based fertilizers market especially […]
The government of Burkina Faso has secured a $51 million deal from the European Union (EU) and the French Development Agency to support the construction of power transmission lines from Nigeria to Burkina Faso. The Dorsale Nord project features 880 km of high-voltage transmission lines from Birnin Kebi in Nigeria to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. […]
French President Emmanuel Macron who is touring East Africa, with stops in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya, has pledged to invest $2.8 billion in Africa by financing and supporting startups and small- to – medium-sized enterprises by 2022. Macron, who started his trip to East Africa Monday, said the French government would support about 10,000 enterprises […]
President Emmanuel Macron of France Wednesday vowed to establish security and environment cooperation between his country and Kenya as he kicked off the third and last leg of his East African tour that brought him to Djibouti and Ethiopia. “We want to improve cooperation in the region from the security and defense point of view,” […]
Qatar Petroleum has joined the Italian oil company ENI and Morocco’s Office for Hydrocarbons and Mining ONHYM to explore for oil and gas off Tarfaya. ENI and Qatar Petroleum have signed an agreement on Wednesday allowing the Qatari company to acquire a 30% stake in the offshore concession of Tarfaya, including 12 blocks of exploration […]
It is clear that the ailing and embattled president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has not been able to deflate mass demonstrations or convince angry protesters demanding his departure, change, inclusive growth and democracy. After weeks of popular protests, Mr. Bouteflika, 82, announced on Monday that he would not run for a fifth term and postponed elections scheduled […]
Morocco has ranked among the 25 largest arms importers in the world, according to the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), published Monday. The kingdom comes in the 24th place in the ranking for the period 2014-2018, climbing six spots compared to the previous period (2013-2017), where it came in the […]
The eight individuals who were repatriated from Syria Sunday risk being prosecuted on terrorism charges according to the Moroccan law. Moroccan authorities announced Sunday the repatriation of eight Moroccans from war-torn Syria on “humanitarian grounds”, noting that this operation is part of Morocco’s contributions to international counterterrorism efforts. The repatriated individuals are currently undergoing investigations […]
Morocco sidestepped being listed in the EU’s tax haven black list but is included in the grey list, which comprises countries that are given time to reform. Ten other countries, including the UAE, are on the black list, which was approved by EU finance ministers. The black list included so far only five jurisdictions and […]