RABAT (Albawaba)-Moroccan nationals living abroad are calling on the government to make it more conducive for them to invest in their homeland.
Moroccan expatriates can and want to make an important contribution to the country's economy, but current legislation and bureaucratic problems prevent them, said Abdeslam Fattouh, who heads the Morocco Foundation, a leading group of Moroccans living abroad.
Over 2 million Moroccans live abroad, largely in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium. Most of these expatriates return to Morocco every summer for holiday. Leaders of the expatriate community met in Rabat last month, to discuss the problems they face investing in their homeland.
They blamed the government for not clearing away the red tape and bureaucracy that makes it difficult to business in Morocco.
"Usually we return to Morocco for one month. And it happens that we spend most of our time running around trying to get licenses," said Mohamed Narjissi, an expatriate from Belgium. He said that he has been trying to get an authorization to build a plastic bags factory, but has only run into red tape.
The government pays no heed to our problems and to our time constraints, said another expatriate, who warned that such a behavior risks to chase away foreign investments that the country so direly needs.
King Mohammed VI recently sharply criticized the red tape in the Moroccan government, calling the government to ease procedure to encourage national and foreign investments.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
