Official presentation of "Rabat World Book Capital" and SIEL 2026
via Le Matin7 min read
The official presentation of "Rabat World Book Capital" and SIEL 2026 is being broadcast live. These two events are significant for promoting culture, reading, and publishing in Morocco.
Free daily or weekly digest of the most important stories from across 18 African countries. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Matin.
Must ReadThe World Bank Group and Morocco have jointly adopted a new Country Partnership Framework CPF for 2026-2035, outlining a ten-year strategy to transition Morocco's economy from public investment-driven growth to one fueled by private investment, innovation, and job creation. This long-term vision aligns with Morocco's New Development Model, focusing on enhancing competitiveness, improving human capital, reducing regional disparities, and increasing climate resilience. Nadia Fettah, Morocco's Minister of Economy and Finance, highlighted that the framework is structuring, aligning public and private financing, knowledge, and reforms around a shared vision for the Kingdom's future, with job creation for youth and women at its core. Ousmane Dione, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan region, noted Morocco's remarkable progress but identified employment as a key challenge, citing a 37% youth unemployment rate in 2024 and a low female labor force participation rate of around 19%. The CPF addresses these issues through three pillars: strengthening business competitiveness by improving the business environment, stimulating competition, and facilitating SME access to finance; developing more inclusive, connected, and resilient territories by reducing regional disparities and improving infrastructure; and investing in human capital through support for education, health, and social protection reforms. The strategy emphasizes making the pr
Must ReadSpeaking at the fourth African Economic Symposium AES organized by the Policy Center for the New South PCNS, Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour highlighted that Africa's primary challenge is to transform its abundant resources into concrete economic development through industrial production, rather than merely exporting raw materials. He noted that Africa possesses nearly 60% of the world's arable land, a young population, and strategic resources like cobalt, oil, gas, and phosphates, yet much of the continent still faces poverty and infrastructure deficits. Mezzour emphasized that the issue is not Africa's potential, but why it has been slow to convert assets into tangible growth. He cited Morocco's experience, where economic opening and investments in infrastructure, such as port, road, and logistics networks, were crucial for industrialization, even if they incurred significant initial costs and did not yield immediate returns. The development of projects like Tanger Med and the automotive industry, now Morocco's leading export sector, demonstrate how strategic, long-term state investments can create conditions for new economic activities and job creation. The Minister also stressed the importance of local transformation of natural resources, using phosphates in Morocco as an example, where the country moved beyond extraction to develop processing capabilities and fertilizer production. Finally, Mezzour discussed how artificial intelligence could reduce technologi
The African Development Bank AfDB and Tamwilcom are deepening their cooperation to explore new partnership opportunities aimed at strengthening financing for very small, small, and medium-sized enterprises VSMEs. Abdelmoughite Abdelmoumen, Tamwilcom's Director of Strategy, stated in an AfDB interview that their partnership has yielded "convincing results" in financial inclusion and enhancing guarantee mechanisms. This long-standing cooperation has led to the implementation of programs supporting inclusive financial sector development and a program dedicated to the resilience and competitiveness of microfinance institutions. Over the past two years, the partnership has been reinforced with a new generation of results-based financing, particularly for VSME funding, job creation, and the promotion of women's entrepreneurship. A key initiative is the Entrepreneurship Support and Financing Program for Job Creation, approved by the AfDB in 2025 for 119 million euros. This program also includes a 2.5 million dollar grant from the "Afawa" initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to support 8,700 women entrepreneurs. Tamwilcom reports a significant leverage effect, where one euro mobilized in guarantees can generate up to 24 euros in bank financing for VSMEs, demonstrating the effectiveness of guarantee mechanisms in mobilizing private funding. Beyond financing, the cooperation also focuses on strengthening Tamwilcom's capacities in sustainable development,