Paris, October 12, 2005


Call for initiatives in France and Morocco
www.maroc-france-initiatives.com

Creation of a franco-moroccan economic impetus group

Following the Franco-Moroccan intergovernmental meeting held in Rabat at the end of September 2005, Prime Ministers Dominique de Villepin and Driss Jettou have decided to set up a Franco-Moroccan economic impetus group, within the framework of the highly developed strategic cooperation between the two countries.

The group is co-chaired by Messrs Mustapha Bakkoury, Managing Director of Caisse des Dépôts et de Gestion, for Morocco and Jean-René Fourtou, Chairman of Vivendi Universal’s Supervisory Board, for France. Around twenty CEOs and business leaders took part in its first meeting, but the group remains open to any individual wishing to contribute his experience and ideas.

The purpose of this working group is to propose any measure likely to improve the already excellent economic relations between the two countries.

The first meeting was opened by Mrs Christine Lagarde, the French deputy foreign trade minister, and Mr Salaheddine Mezouar, Morocco’s industry minister. Both emphasized the possibly complementary nature of several French and Moroccan industrial sectors, the convergence between French competitiveness hubs and those given preferential treatment by the Moroccan authorities, and the importance of small and mid-sized businesses.

During this initial and very fruitful meeting, it was decided that:

- Initially, Messieurs Jean-René Fourtou and Mustapha Bakkoury will get in touch with the many players, institutions, companies and associations that are already involved in Franco-Moroccan relations. In no way does the group intend to take over from actions and initiatives that already exist. On the contrary, it will work to ensure their success. This information gathering and reflection phase will last about one month.

- A Web site has been created (www.maroc-france-initiatives.com) to facilitate dialogue and contacts and to report on the state of progress of the various projects. Already, all those who wish to do so, can provide their contribution by signing up on the Web site.

- The working group’s organisation, objectives and timetable will be agreed during this first month.

The group will make an interim report to the two Prime Ministers within six months and will submit its conclusions and proposals at the next intergovernmental meeting in a year’s time.