A grant agreement worth $94 million (about 846 million dirhams) was signed, Wednesday in Rabat, between Morocco and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to finance the inclusive socio-economic development program. This program has three components. The first concerns an integrated local development program that will encompass the economic growth and governance sector in the regions of Marrakech-Safi and Beni Mellal-Khenifra. The second provides for the creation of public-private partnerships, one of which concerns the setting up of a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology center within a university institution. The third component meant to provide support to activities that reinforce community resilience, by strengthening the capacity of key institutions and civil society organizations in order to provide services to at-risk youth in vulnerable communities. On this occasion, minister of Economy and Finance, Mohamed Benchaaboun, lauded USAID's interest in Morocco's economic and social development, expressing his satisfaction with the quality of the projects carried out with financial support from the US government. The minister also recalled the conclusion of the free trade agreement between Morocco and the United States in 2006, noting that trade has increased remarkably since that time. He also expressed the wish that these exchanges would be further developed and extended to other fields, in particular industry, information technology and agro-industry.
