Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
July 1, 2006

American NGO to plant one million fruit trees in Morocco.
Cost of living index increases 2.7% in Morocco, official.
Over USD 3.4Mn to revamp 18th C. garden central Morocco.
Over 500.000 people attended Essaouira Gnawa and world music festival.
Morocco desert town stage to Catherine Hardwik 'Nativity' movie.
Family Code: Guide on Moudawana implementation, reforms presented in Rabat.
Morocco-US deal to boost exports. 
Morocco’s Veiled Feminists.
Morocco's popularity on rise with tourists

American NGO to plant one million fruit trees in Morocco.
Washington, June 27 - An American NGO is raising money (USD 1Mn) to plant one million fruit trees in Moroccan rural areas. Created in 2000 by former Peace Corps members, the High Atlas Foundation aspires to plant some 3 million fruit trees over the three coming years. The association, which supports revenue-generating activities, also contributes in water supply and irrigation infrastructure building in Morocco. The foundation is a non-profit association that works with the Moroccan government and NGOs to achieve community development projects. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/general/american_ngo_to_plan5686/view
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Cost of living index increases 2.7% in Morocco, official.
Rabat, June 26 - The cost of living index increased 2.7% by the end of May in contrast to 1.1% in the same period of last year, said a press release of the High Commissioner for Planning (French acronym HCP). This increase is ascribed to the rise in the prices of oil, services and food products as well as the new rearrangement of VAT imposed on some products, water and electricity. Household purchasing power would be affected by price increase. Final domestic consumption may reach 10.7% increase compared to 4.4% in last year. However, public consumption will slow down following public service voluntary retirement operation.

In the early period of this month, imports increased 10.1% and exports 8.7% resulting in a 11.7% trade deficit. The industrial sector will record a 3.4% rise compared to 2.6% in 2005. The unemployment rate stood at 9.8% in the first quarter of the year to 11.3% in the same period in 2005, said the HCP. Mining activities may know a regression in 2006 because of a slackness in the production of non metallic minerals. The overall growth of the gross domestic product will see a rise of around 7.3% during this year compared to 1.7% in 2005. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_economy/cost_of_living_index/view
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Over USD 3.4Mn to revamp 18th C. garden central Morocco.
Rabat, June 26 - Princess Lalla Hasna, chairwoman of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, chaired, here Monday, the signing ceremony of the partnership framework convention worth MAD 30Mn, about USD 3.4Mn, aimed to revamp Jnan Sbil gardens in Fes, 200 km east of Rabat. The multipartite convention, part of the Foundation's "Flowered Cities" program, aims at revivifying the beauty of old-age Jnan Sbil and ultimately register it as one of the world's historical gardens. The program is to be achieved in several steps. Jnan Sbil was created in the 18th century by Sultan Moulay Abdallah on an area of 7.5ha at the very heart of a monumental site. This jewel of the Arab-Andalus tradition was recently overrun by recurrent drought and continued neglect.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_social/over_usd_3.4mn_to_re/view
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Over 500.000 people attended Essaouira Gnawa and world music festival.
Essaouira, June 25 - More than 500.000 people attended, on June 22 through 25, the music concerts and shows of the 9th edition of Gnawa and world music festival of Essaouira, according to the festival organizers, adding the previous edition drew 450.000. The Arab rock musician Rachid Taha sang at the closing concert of the festival, fascinating hundreds of thousands of Gnawa music fans. The sublime "Gnawa Maalems" band played on Saturday evening, featuring several famous local and international singers and musicians: Abdeslam Alikane, Hamid El Kasri and Mustapha Bakbou. The Pakistani brother singers Mehr and Sher Ali went on the stage on Saturday evening, at the splendid Bab Marrakech square, to play a special concert interpreting their qawwali directory in front of thousands of fans. The cultural event was covered by more than 170 journalists, including 70 foreigners, and aired by many satellite channels.http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/imp_culture/over_500.000_people/view
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Morocco desert town stage to Catherine Hardwik 'Nativity' movie.
Ouarzazate, June 20 - "Nativity" is the new American movie being shot in the studios of the south-central Moroccan town of Ouarzazate by director Catherine Hardwik. Produced by the American Northern Progress Company, the long length movie is the nth remake of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. It tells of two years of the life of Mary and Joseph, namely their leaving of Nazareth to move to Bethlehem for the delivery of Jesus.

The director of "Lords of Dogtown", "Thirteen", Catherine Hardwicke is making the new movie from a Mike Rich scenario played by a cast including Shohreh Aghdashloo, Oscar Isaac, Alexander Siddig, Shaun Toub and Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary. "Nativity" is to be premiered in American theaters as of December.

The natural scenery chosen for the film include the Mansour Addahbi dam, the Casbahs of Tamdakht and Tifoultout, the Fint lake, the Tiguert hamlet and the stage where "Kingdom of heaven" was filmed.

Catherine Harwicke was born on October 21, 1955 in McAllen, Texas, and is a hollywood, production designer and film director. While at UCLa film school during the 1980s, Hardwicke made an award-winning short, Puppy Does the Gumbo. She spent most of the 1990s as a production designer, designing such films as Tombstone (1993), Tank Girl (1995)…   Hardwicke went on to direct Lords of Dogtown (2005), a fictionalized account of skateboarding culture.

Keisha Castle-Hughes was born in Donnybrook, Western Australia. Her mother, Desrae Hughes, is New Zealand Maori and her father, Tim Castle, Australian. At age of four, Keisha's family moved from Australia to New Zealand. She was discovered for the movie Whale Rider (2002) by the casting director and the casting assistant who visited her primary school in Mt. Wellington, New Zealand. Keisha was chosen among several hundred to star in the main role of Paikea.

Ourzazate is also to host the remake of the second part of "The hills have eyes" by Alexandre Aja. The city of Ouarzazate, the gate to the Grand South of Morocco, opens to large horizons of the desert sand and the snowy slopes of the High Atlas, within reach. The houses are built with earthen bricks... Thanks to its gorgeous landscapes, Ouarzazate is an exceptional place to receive the most important film productions. It has 3 shooting studios available "Atlas", "Kanzaman", and "CLA" and shelters a Euro-mediteranean training centre on film-making.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/culture/morocco_desert_town/view
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Family Code: Guide on Moudawana implementation, reforms presented in Rabat.

A guide on the Moroccan Family Code, Moudawana, and its implementation and reform has been presented in Rabat on the initiative of the Secretariat of State in charge Social Development, Family, and Solidarity, and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Edited in two languages, Arabic and French, the guide explains the ratifications undertaken on some of the Moudawana's articles, including those concerning marriage, divorce, adoption, the rights of Moroccans living abroad, and the partition of the estate gained during marriage. In order to make its content easier, the guide is illustrated by caricatures made by a group of Moroccan caricaturists. On this occasion, Yasmina Baddou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Social Development, Family, and Solidarity, explained that this visual art is the best means to transmit the content of the Moudawana to people belonging to all social backgrounds.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/News/article.asp?id=15613
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Morocco-US deal to boost exports. 
Thu, 29 Jun 2006 Rabat

Morocco and the United States have agreed to give the African country's exports to North America a boost, officials said. Under the programme signed by both countries, the export-oriented industrial and services sectors were to make the most of the business opportunities offered by the US market, said the ministry for industry, commerce and economic development.

The programme drawn up by the US Agency for International Development (USAid) will provide Morocco with about $9mn over four years. It "identifies opportunities for Moroccan exporters and helps them adapt to seize them successfully". The ministry and USAid would work together to "improve productivity in farming and the food-processing industry, develop non-farming companies and industries and improve the business environment," the ministry said. A free trade agreement between the two countries came into force in January, which covered industrial and agricultural goods, intellectual property, services, customs, employment, the environment and telecommunications. It called for the elimination of customs tariffs on 95 percent of industrial and commercial goods. Sapa-AFP
http://www.businessinafrica.net/news/north_africa/989781.htm
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Morocco’s Veiled Feminists.
By Fatima Sadiqi

It is often assumed that modern feminism has no place, and thus can make little headway, in societies undergoing a religious revival, particularly in the Islamic world. But the real progress made in recent years on women’s rights in Morocco suggests otherwise: a unique combination of activism by secular and religious women, the calculations of political parties, and a significant role for the King has led to real progress........................... (read more by clikcing on: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sadiqi1/English
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Morocco's popularity on rise with tourists: Around 6.5 million tourists will visit North African country by year end, against 5.8 million in 2005.
RABAT

Morocco's popularity as a tourist destination is on the rise, with earnings expected to be between 45 and 50 billion dirhams (4.1 to 4.5 billion euros) for 2006, against 3.7 billion euros last year, Tourism Minister Adil Douiri predicted Thursday. Around 6.5 million tourists will visit the North African country by year end, against 5.8 million in 2005. The minister estimated that tourism's contribution to gross domestic product would be 10 percent. Foreign investment in tourism has developed in recent years, the biggest deal to date announced last March involving a global figure of nine billion dollars by the Emirati groups EMAAR and Dubai Holding for projects in Rabat, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Tangiers. Tourism is one of Morocco's most important sources of revenue along with phosphates and earnings from Moroccans abroad.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/business/?id=16861
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