Morocco and Japan signed, Friday in Rabat, by videoconference, a Memorandum of Cooperation in the fields of land development, urban planning, infrastructure and investment, Morocco's state agency MAP reported.
This partnership, signed by minister of National Land Development, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy, Nouzha Bouchareb, and Japanese minister of Land Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Iwai Shigeki, will promote the sharing, transfer of expertise, capacity building and best practices in the fields of planning and promotion of public policies related to development and infrastructure.
Signed in the presence of Japanese Ambassador to Morocco, Takashi Shinozuka, this memorandum is the first agreement signed by the ministry with this country and will be implemented through actions on priority areas, namely metropolization, urban resilience and risk management in cities, digitalization and monitoring and observation jobs, connectivity and competitiveness of territories as well as mobility and urban travel.
This official ceremony was held on the sidelines of an international conference organized by the Japanese Ministry of State for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under the theme: "high quality infrastructure and urban planning".
Speaking on this occasion, Bouchareb stressed the full readiness of her Department to expand the scope of this partnership to a triangular cooperation in favor of the countries of the African continent, taking into account the positioning of Morocco as a base of convergence between Africa, Europe, Asia and the Arab world.
"I am convinced that the conclusions of this conference will undoubtedly give new impetus to cooperation between Morocco and Japan, to lay the foundations for a resilient and sustainable urban development placing people at the heart of policies and action, "she said.
Recalling that the history of Morocco-Japanese cooperation goes back more than fifty years, Bouchareb noted that the latter was strengthened under the reign of His Majesty King Mohammed VI through the holding of the 5th session of the Morocco-Japanese Joint Commission in Rabat in January 2020, which resulted in the signing of an important agreement aimed at supporting and protecting investment and a tax convention.
