World Bank: The New Development Model, An “Unprecedented” Plan

The World Bank Director for the Maghreb, Jesko Hentschel, confirmed, on Friday, that the World Bank highly values ​​the new development model proposed by the Special Development Model Committee, which is an unprecedented participatory scheme and lays the base for a promising model.

Hentschel said, in a statement to MAP, that this model defines the role and responsibilities of every actor, including citizens, in the horizon of building a “prosperous, pluralistic and open Morocco”.

He added that the work carried out by the Committee, which combines the ideas of the analytical works and the wide consultations that included a significant number of actors, constitutes a “useful” and “valuable” exercise that charts a new path for development of the Kingdom.

Hentschel continued that the new development model provides a transformative vision of the social contract, noting that the Covid-19 crisis constituted the main breaking point that certainly contributed to building this new vision.

He pointed out that “the country has mobilized to protect Moroccan citizens and maintain their standard of living; mobilization enabled to enhance the feeling of confidence and belonging, a feeling that must be consolidated today.

Moreover, the Director of the Maghreb Department at the World Bank noted that the public sector is no longer able to be simultaneously strategic and regulated, providing services, investments and opportunities.

“Unleashing the energies of citizens and encouraging the participation and involvement of the private sector, local actors, civil society and other actors, whoever they are, is today an important and more sustainable approach to the path of integration,” said Hentschel.

The official pointed out that Morocco is well aware that enhancing its ability to compete in the global market and raising the welfare and prosperity of its citizens requires a large and long-term investment in its most valuable resources, and it is related to human capital.

Hentschel emphasized that this capital, in addition to education and health mainly, is one of the most important issues that concern Moroccans, explaining that the model being presented today places great emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of citizens and everyone’s potential to contribute to development and be active in it.

“We value highly, in the World Bank, this change that Morocco has been involved in for several years, and which it will not be able to ignore,” he said, highlighting that “the projects and reform projects that have been implemented, in this context, are promising, but the challenges are great, especially With regard to implementation and coordination, at the central and local level ”.

The Director concluded that the new development model is, then, a bash of hope and foundational principles that public authorities and citizens can rely on to demand that they fully play their role and focus on the collective realization of a more prosperous future for the Kingdom’s youth.

His Majesty King Mohammed VI presided over, at the Royal Palace in Fez, the presentation of the public report prepared by the Development Model Committee. The renewal of the development model constitutes a new stage in the consolidation of the community project, led by His Majesty.

It also includes strengthening the link with the values ​​of positive and active citizenship, strengthening the sense of belonging to the nation, and affirming the Moroccan historical and cultural personality, rich in its ancient history, distinguished by its openness, and by the multiplicity of its components.