FT.com / World - Premier hopes forum will highlight Moroccan reforms Wednesday Dec 1 2004 . All times are London time. Roger Bove Edit Profile Take a Tour Log out HomeWorldUSUKEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle East & AfricaAmericasInternational economyBrussels briefingNews headlinesNews in depthBusinessMarketsMarkets & funds dataIndustriesLexComment & analysisTechnologyBusiness lifeYour moneyArts & WeekendSportJobs & classifiedsIn today's FT FT ReportsCreative BusinessFTfmFT-ITWorld reportsBusiness Reports News in depth Iraq in Transition US elections 2004 Columnists Philip Stephens Quentin Peel Lombard Martin Wolf Lucy Kellaway Amity Shlaes WorldPrint article | Email article Premier hopes forum will highlight Moroccan reforms By Roula Khalaf in London Published: November 30 2004 17:25 | Last updated: November 30 2004 17:25 Finance and foreign ministers from the world's big powers meet their Middle East counterparts in Morocco next week, in the first international effort to address the region's lagging development. The Forum for the Future is a by-product of the US-sponsored Greater Middle East initiative, originally conceived as an ambitious plan to democratise the Middle East but later scaled back in the face of protests from Arab leaders. According to Driss Jettou, Morocco's prime minister, the meeting on December 11 will focus on economic and social development, a less controversial topic than democratisation. "The Greater Middle East initiative was more political. The conference will respond to the needs of the countries invited," said Mr Jettou. Morocco agreed to host the meeting after the US proposed more modest goals and received endorsement in June from the Group of Eight industrialised countries, all of which will be represented at the con- erence. In an interview with the Financial Times in London on Tuesday, Mr Jettou said the conference would launch initiatives to finance 2m entrepreneurs with micro-credits and provide funds for the education of 20m more people in the region by 2015. The G8 are also expected to offer business training to 250,000 young people from the Middle East. The meeting - and the US involvement in it - have already caused popular protests in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, with thousands of demonstrators, mainly Islamists, taking to the streets on Sunday. The Moroccan government is hoping the international forum will also highlight its own reforms. The government has just launched its biggest privatisation with the sale of 14 per cent of Maroc Telecom, the state telecommunications company, on the stock market. The offer is being marketed this week and follows the sale of another 16 per cent of the company to France's Vivendi Universal, already a shareholder. But like in the rest of the region, economic restructuring in Morocco has yet to make a significant impact on employment. According to Mr Jettou, the number of jobs created is rising but not as fast as the 1.6 per cent yearly rate of growth of the working population. Youth unemployment has been of greatest concern to the government. Islamist radicalism has spread in some of the slums around large cities and many young Moroccans see migration to Europe as their only hope. Mr Jettou said the government was accelerating youth training projects and had launched a programme to raise the number of social housing units from 45,000 a year to 100,000 a year. "The attraction of Europe will always be there when the two continents are so close and there's such a gap in standards of living," he said. "But migration has to be organised and the only response to it is economic and social development." EMAIL ARTICLEPRINT ARTICLEMOST POPULAR Related stories Morocco to sell a stake in its Maroc Telecom Nov 24 2004 02:24 Africa: Take a patchwork rather than a blanket view Oct 27 2004 06:17 Moroccans ready to risk all for taste of good life Oct 12 2004 02:00 Radical Islam appeals to the rootless Oct 11 2004 19:44 Search & quotes News Quotes Power search My portfolio Editor’s choice Morocco to sell a stake in its Maroc Telecom Africa: Take a patchwork rather than a blanket view Moroccans ready to risk all for taste of good life Radical Islam appeals to the rootless Site services Personal office Download news ticker FT mobile FT Research Centre FT conferences Currency converter Working at the FT Research tools Analyst reports FT Research Centre Free annual reports Market research Growth companies D&B business reports = requires subscription to FT.com HomeWorld | Business | Markets news | Markets & funds data | Industries | Lex | Your money Comment & analysis | Reports | Arts & Weekend | Sport | In today’s FT | Media inquiriesContact us | Help © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2004. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy| Terms| Advertising| Corporate