Morocco and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed, Thursday in Paris, two financing agreements to support regionalization of public policies through a 150 million EUR loan to promote the economic integration of young people as well as a 9 million EUR grant intended to support the regionalization of the Moroccan migration policy. The two agreements were signed on the occasion of the 14th France-Morocco High Level Meeting, co-chaired by the Head of Government, Saad Dine El Othmani, and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. «These two financings support a common objective, namely to encourage the territorialisation of public policies within the framework of the implementation of advanced regionalization», AFD said in a press release. The four-year economic integration program for young people is part of the National Employment Promotion Plan sponsored by the Ministry of Labor and Professional Integration. It will be financed by AFD through a loan worth 150 million euros and by the European Union via a €14.6 million grant dedicated to the technical assistance of regional actors of employment and entrepreneurship. The program aims to improve young people's access to employment and to stimulate entrepreneurship in the regions of Rabat-Salé-Kenitra, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima and Souss-Massa, AFD said, adding that all the levers of professional integration will be mobilized in order to improve the employability of young people, strengthen the intermediation and promotion of entrepreneurship services, but also support the convergence of public policies at the territorial level. As for the 9 million euros grant mobilized by AFD to support the regionalization of Moroccan migration policy, it will target two regions, namely Souss-Massa and the Eastern regions.
