Cairo (APD) - About ten percent of Moroccan textile companies were forced to shut down, resulting in the lay off at least 30,000 people in only four months due to Chinese exports, Maghreb Arabe Press, reported Wednesday.
Karim Tazi, president of the Moroccan Association of the Textile and Clothing Industries, said that textile exports plunged by 25% last January, adding that this quickly became a national crisis for the government because the textile industry is the best way to employ Morocco's large population of unskilled labor.
Tazi added that the government spent only $400,000 promoting the export of textiles in 2005, which he regarded as 'very low'. "We managed to convince the government to increase the budget next year to a modest $2 million. I have been pleading that we need to show the world our magnificent Moroccan style in coordination with the promotion of tourism, but nobody wants to listen. They cannot see it," Tazi added.
The aim of Moroccan association of the Textile and Clothing Industries "is to make Morocco the Sentier of Europe. Sentier is the part of central Paris where clothes are still manufactured - at very high cost - because they can be made within one week," he explained.
Salah al-Din Mezwar, Morocco's minister of industry and commerce said early September that Morocco was able to lure additional foreign investments in its textile industry as the North African country managed last May to attract three huge investments worth $300 million into its textile industry.
But the minister had expressed hope that the textile industry will see a promising future after signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) last year with the United States as "it will open new horizons."
Mezwar also emphasized that the strategy of the Moroccan textile industry should "be better adapted to the new demands in Europe and United States since the main target is to manufacture value-added products."
Morocco, who is in dire need to fund major economic and social reforms, has been carrying out several reform measures in a bid to boost Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country.
In an effort to fund its economic and social programs, the Moroccan government is expediting plans to sell several state-owned assets like its 34% stake in Maroc Telecom by the end of 2006. [FC]
By Eman Wahby, APD Staff Writer in Cairo
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
