focusI S S U E 1 4 M AR 2 0 0 7

In this issue

PAGE ONE Upcoming Morocco Event PAGE TWO Featured Members AMPA Management Updates PAGE THREE Morocco Event Schedule PAGE FOUR FTA: One year later PAGE FIVE Expert’s Corner: High Tech Cars PAGE SIX Bladi Headlines

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Association of Moroccan Professionals in America

A Diverse Program: Business Plan competition FTA Opportunities Review IT Offshoring Opportunities Franchising and Entrepreneurship Real Estate Market Trends and Prospects Outstanding Networking Opportunities: Meetings with high level business and government executives A dinner with members of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) A cocktail dinner with Human Resource Directors of some of the largest Moroccan corpora-tions A gathering with members of the Al Akhawayn University Alumni Association A Wealth of Resources: Corporate and personal professional matchmaking Assistance in scheduling high level meetings during the event Private conference rooms for your business meetings Discounts with Royal Air Maroc and Hotel Les Saisons in Casablanca Distinguished speakers and Partners: Mrs. Nouzha Chekrouni, Minister Delegate in charge of Moroccans Living Abroad Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Industry, Trade and Economy Upgrading Mr. Carl Dawson, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in Morocco Mr. Hicham Smad, General Director, Reseau Maroc Entreprendre AmCham, Caisse de Depot et De Gestion, Al Akhawayn University Alumni Association, and many more! Many more exciting speakers to be confirmed soon…

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MOROCCAN AMERICAN BRIDGES 2007 Rabat & Casablanca, MAY 14-16, 2007

We are happy to announce the second edition of Moroc-can American Bridges, in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce in Morocco (AmCham), AIESEC, and the Al Akhawayn University Alumni Association.

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Our Featured Members Amine Benneftah San Francisco, CA

Amine is a Sr. Project Man-ager with Art.com, a leading internet retailer, managing multiple IT projects including international brand expansion, affiliates networks, search en-gine optimization, back office systems and order fulfillment. Prior to joining Art.com, he spent seven years with AT&T, a global Telecom leader, where he led and delivered

projects ranging from Member Acquisition, Billing and CRM to Member Support and Online Applications for Internet Services. Amine is currently Fundraising Director and Treasurer for Morocco Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to children schooling and education in Morocco. He played a key role in organizing the November 2006 San Francisco Fundraising event sponsored by Morocco Foundation and AMPA to benefit the "Schools Without Borders" project in Essaouira. Amine holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Admini-stration from the University of Montana and an MBA in Management Information Systems from the University of North Texas. He lives in the San Francisco bay area and enjoys travel, music and current affairs, and keeps a regular blog covering Telecom ( www.maroc-it.com/blogs/amine).

Hanane Zelouani Idrissi Washington, DC

Hanane has over 9 years pro-fessional experience in non-profit and business. Hanane works with the MENA program at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC, a donor organization. Her main responsibility is to develop and coordinate work with civil society in Iraq. She also worked with Vital Voices Global Partnership as a

MENA program Manager. She has more than 11 years non-profit experience in Morocco as a volunteer and board mem-ber with Union de L’Action Feminine Association in Casa-blanca-UAF. Before coming to USA, she worked as a Senior Research Analyst with the multinational Nielsen, as a Liaison and Mar-keting Coordinator with South Korea Chamber of Commerce in Casablanca, and as a Market Research Executive with LMS Marketing. Hanane was born and raised in Casablanca. She has a Master’s degree in Humanities and Social Sciences from Alakhawayn University in Morocco and a diploma in market-ing and communication from ESIG-Casablanca.

Management Team Updates • Website redesign near completion and soon to

be launched • New and improved MyAMPA to be

launched and looking into ways to im-prove it

• Partnership with AmCham to give AMPA members access to a strong Moroccan network

• Morocco event planning under way • Charity status application under review by

lawyer

AMPA MANAGEMENT TEAM Khalil Jai Hokimi: President Aly Horma: Vice-President Rym Fizazi: Treasurer Omar Tazi: VP Technology & Marketing Talal Belrhiti: VP Communication Faiza Laghrari: Newsletter Chief Editor Mehdi Bousfiha: VP Membership Hicham Kabbaj: VP Events Zakaria El Goumiri: VP Institutional Partnerships Imane Alaoui: VP Community Service

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MOROCCAN AMERICAN BRIDGES 2007 Event Schedule –Details to be finalized soon-

Monday, May 14th, 2007 TIME MEETING LOCATION 10:00 10:30 Opening Session and Keynote Address CDG Rabat 10:30 12:30 Business Plan Reviews: 5 plans 25 min each 12:30 13:30 Lunch CDG Rabat 13:30 15:30 Business Plan Reviews: 5 plans 25 min each 15:30 16:30 Entrepreneur Coaching / Q&A CDG Rabat 16:30 17:00 Break 17:00 18:00 Award Ceremony & Closing notes CDG Rabat

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 TIME MEETING LOCATION

9:00 10:00 Registration Casablanca 10:00 10:30 Opening Session & Keynote Address 10:30 11:30 Session 1: One year into the FTA: Lessons & opportunities Technopark 11:30 12:30 Open discussion & Networking 12:30 14:30 Lunch Technopark 14:30 15:30 Session 2: IT Offshoring in Morocco (with APEBI) 15:30 16:00 Coffee Break Technopark 16:00 17:00 Open discussion & Networking 19:00 21:00 AA HR Seminar for AMPA members Technopark Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 TIME MEETING LOCATION

9:00 10:00 Registration Casablanca 10:00 10:30 Welcome Message 10:30 11:30 Session 1: Morocco Real Estate Opportunities Technopark 11:30 12:30 Open discussion & Networking 12:30 14:30 Lunch Technopark 14:30 15:30 Session 2: Franchising and entrepreneurship 15:30 16:00 Coffee Break Technopark 16:00 17:00 Open discussion & Networking 19:00 21:00 Cocktail with Al Akhawayn University Alumni Association Technopark

Event Brochure, Sponsorship Brochure and Registration Form available at:

www.amp-usa.org

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Morocco-US FTA: One Year Later... By Amine Maaouni A little over a year ago, the Morocco-US Free Trade Agree-ment went into effect amidst much debate and lofty expec-tations within the US business community and in Morocco. In fact, Mohamed Benayad, Secretary General of the Na-tional Council for Foreign Trade (CNCE), stated that, “The Free Trade Agreement with the United States opens the Moroccan economy towards a new world. It is an opportu-nity for us to diversify our partnerships, our markets and strengthen our means of competition in an increasingly global economy”. How about that? Between 2005 and 2006, Moroccan exports rose 12% with products such as electronic integrated circuits and micro assembly (down 6.4 % at $37.6 million), sweaters, pull-overs, knit or crocheted vests up 275.6 % at $9.3 million, and semiconductor devices/diodes up 20.6% at $53 million. Moroccan also imports rose steadily by 61% in the same period: air and spacecrafts up 46.99% at $241 million, plas-tics up 1142.81% at $43.3 million, and organic chemicals down 65.1% at $3.1 million. However, the Moroccan experience cannot be considered as extensive as Jordan’s booming trade relationship with the US, because most Moroccan companies are still some-what apprehensive about and unprepared for the US mar-ket. Due to the strong historical ties with Europe in general and France in particular, Morocco is more EU oriented, and the development funds allocated by EU countries are much more important than those allocated by the United States. Moreover, cultural proximity and the common language with France make “the hexagon” a natural ally and business partner. Opinions diverged over the FTA, with some pessimistic ob-servers saying that it was a “bad deal” for Morocco, threat-ening its domestic economy and not offering any competi-tive advantage - while others expected a surge in US-Morocco trade relations. Realistically, it is important to keep in mind that the FTA is only one decision making factor of US investors. (see Brand Morocco Research Program, 2006). The tariff elimi-nation is very important, but the FTA is only one tool in a box that businesses have to work with. It sets the context and lends to a trustworthy environment, while other tools are needed to complete the process: infrastructure, educa-tion, legal framework, cost of production, accessibility, to name a few. Additionally, according to Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secre-tary of State , the FTA “encourage[s] the creation of em-

ployment opportunities, the transfer of technology, ex-panded manpower skills and training, and increased foreign direct investment.” In fact, the FTA prompted Morocco to undertake the reforms necessary to be more competitive: the Emergence Plan and its ramifications, the support or-ganizations (Regional Investment Centers), the infrastruc-ture (Tanger Med, transportation, industrial zones, tech zones, free zone, legal framework, etc.) to create a better business environment. Having an FTA with the U.S. is of course a great opportu-nity to foster trade ties but it is also a kind of guarantee, a “stamp” that should encourage US businesses to increase their presence in Morocco. According to the US industry experts, IPR compliance is one of the best examples of the success of the agreement, in that its IPR chapter is, "the most advanced IP chapter in any FTA negotiated so far" and "a precedential agreement for future FTAs." Morocco has agreed to protect IPR to a degree unseen in many other developing countries. (see www.buyusa.gov) The regulatory reforms made in Morocco respect high stan-dards of protection for intellectual property rights and new commitments in e-commerce. OMPIC (Moroccan office for intellectual property rights) is doing very well given its new mandate. It is still very early to deem the US-Morocco FTA a success or a failure; all parties involved will have to wait 4 or 5 years to see durable results In this respect, the FTA is an important component of the economic dynamic in Morocco. It is still very early to deem the US-Morocco FTA a success or a failure; all parties in-volved will have to wait 4 or 5 years to see durable results. In the meantime, the efforts that associations and govern-mental agencies are undertaking will allow a better busi-ness environment to foster the experience of exponential trade growth. The major challenges that Morocco faces in terms of eco-nomic growth are dependent upon the nature of new invest-ments. To take full advantage of the FTA, Morocco also needs to improve its business environment and enhance its invest-ment appeal, particularly its image and message. It must manage adequate allocation of resources for the support and implementation of the FTA (trade capacity building), better promotion of the agreement, better communication and consultation with the business community, provide a forum for private sector feedback in Morocco, maintain bet-ter intergovernmental coordination, and streamline govern-ment agencies dealing with trade and investment issues.

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What is telematics and how does it impact us? Telematics refers to the integration of computing, wire-less communications and Global Positioning System (GPS) for sending, receiving and storing information over different networks. More specifically, the term refers to automobile systems that provide a variety of services to motorists like emergency and navigational. Telematics devices provide the driver with the platform to request emergency help, browse the Internet, send and receive e-mails, receive live traffic updates, listen to satellite ra-dio, and perform various other activities. The best part is that all these things can be done hands-free and/or with a simple push of a button. These high tech car advances cost extra, but many of these features will come standard when you purchase a new vehicle. How big is the telematics market? Few companies, big and small, have been playing in this space, but the potential market for telematics is enor-mous. On a global basis, the market for such technology could reach billions of dollars a year for hardware and services. In fact, telematics offers automakers new op-portunities to expand their brand identity. They'll be able to stay in touch with owners during the lifecycle of the vehicle and even after it goes off warranty, then sell ser-vices to motorists in the used car market. This opens up a multitude of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) possibilities to help attract new customers,

Expert’s Corner

High Tech Cars: Interview with Fahd Laghrari

Tell us a little bit about yourself: I work for OnStar, a division of General Motors, as a senior sys-tems engineer responsible for the engineering and operational as-pects of vehicle data services. My background is in Electrical and Computer Engineering and I have recently earned an MBA from Indi-ana University’s Kelley School of

Business. What can you tell us about the automotive industry? The automotive industry has had a long history of break-throughs and innovation in all aspects of the vehicle in-cluding all-wheel drive, Anti-lock brakes (ABS), Airbag to cite a few. In the last 10 years, the automotive digital revo-lution has begun, and we're in for a new wave of hi-tech innovation. It's the science of telematics - connecting your car wirelessly with the outside world of information and communication services relevant to you, the customer. Make no mistake, telematics will revolutionize motoring to the same extent the internet changed how we work and play.

As Moroccans in the US, we should all work on a daily basis to promote Morocco, to create a positive buzz about Morocco Following from these ideas, a marketing-communication strategy could be highly successful and should be a long term initiative/goal to be achieved. Recently MATIC com-pleted the Brand Morocco IMC (Integrated Marketing Com-munication) competition, which aimed at recommending effi-cient communication strategies in the US to overcome US companies’ misconceptions about Morocco. As Moroccans in the US, we should all work on a daily basis to promote Morocco, to create a positive buzz about Mo-rocco, because we are in fact not only ambassadors of our country to the US, but also counselors on doing business in Morocco. For more info please contact the Moroccan American Trade and Investment Center (MATIC): 1101 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 411, Washington, DC 20005 Tel: (202) 587-0855 / Fax: (202) 536-4210

AMPA Career Center We encourage our members to visit the AMPA career center, a section of our portal dedicated to sharing job opportunities to help fellow members advance their career either by applying for jobs or by helping them fill positions with talented Moroccan-American profession-als. Current postings include job openings at MICROSOFT, AT&T, MASIMO, PLATEAU, QWEST, ART.COM and WESTERN UNION.

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increase brand loyalty, reduce costs, increase efficiency and maintain a competitive advantage. General Motors through its OnStar division has launched in 2005 a free service called the OnStar Vehicle Diagnos-tics (OVD). The service runs system checks on the vehicle (remote diagnostics, oil life, tire pressure monitoring, emis-sions…) every month and sends the customer a simple email report on how the vehicle is doing. The service has seen tremendous success with more than 2 million cus-tomers signing up. (For more information: http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/bvm/samplereport.jsp) How safe is it to use this technology? There are two key components that opponents of this technology cite as areas of concern: privacy and driver distraction. Privacy of location information is an important issue. As a business matter, customers’ trust is critical. The conven-tional wisdom is that consumers will provide information if they receive adequate value and are confident about how it will be used, but will penalize any company that inade-quately protects their privacy. The second area of concern is driver distraction. Tradition-ally, driver distraction issues have arisen in the context of cell phone and navigation system usage in vehicles. As the technology becomes more prevalent, it is likely that this issue will become less relevant as voice interface sys-tems become more intelligent and less intrusive. The chal-lenge is to design systems that are suitable for usage within vehicle systems and that do not excessively distract the driver from the primary task of driving. What’s the future of this technology? Telematics could make transportation systems safer, more efficient and more productive. Think of all the time you spend in your car, stuck in traffic. Traffic tie-ups cost us in time and lost productivity, never mind the impact on nerves. Telematics will make it easier to avoid traffic jams by alerting you of any incidents on your route and re-directing you towards a more fluid road. The vehicle will know exactly where you need to be, what time you need to be there and what is the best way to get there. Additionally, this technology will also provide us with an efficient platform to stay active while on the road and, most importantly, it will give us the option to choose what to do during that time. Another future enhancement will be the easier and more efficient way to service your car. With the introduction of more advanced electronics, proactively monitoring and remotely fixing your car is not a far fetch idea anymore. Spending long hours at the dealership will be a thing of the past. As cars start communicating with other cars through telematics, choosing the safest way to handle unsafe situations like recognizing danger on the road and avoid-ing crashes will become trivial. Once the most powerful computer resides in your car, there will be highways of endless possibilities. Fahd can be reached at fahdlz@hotmail.com

Morocco vows "no respite" on terror after blast Morocco pledged to wage war against terrorism "without respite" on Monday 03/12 after a suspected suicide bomber was blown up in a Casablanca Internet cafe during a tussle with the owner of the premises. 03/12/2007, Reuters Spain and Morocco to link by tunnel Spain and Morocco are planning a joint effort to link their countries by undersea train tunnel, Spanish news agency EFE reported. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he was committed to the project, though he demanded some financial assistance from the European Union. Meanwhile Moroccan Premier Driss Jettou called the tunnel initiative "an important milestone" in relations between the two countries. 03/07/2007, The Washington Times Gabon company wins tender for Morocco's Drapor Satram, a Gabon-based company, won a tender to buy Mo-rocco's state-owned dredging firm, Societe de Dragage des Ports (Drapor), for 327.6 million dirhams ($38.6 million), a bank advising on the sale said. 03/05/2007, Reuters EU To Provide EUR654 Million Aid For Morocco The European Commission is proposing a EUR654 million aid package for Morocco to support the country's ongoing political and economic reforms over the next four years. The package represents a 20% increase over aid given to Morocco in 1995-2006. The European Union wants to intensify its efforts as the remaining challenges of Moroccan reform are "difficult and costly," European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. Almost half of the money will be used for social development, in areas such as education and healthcare reform. The aid will also assist private sector development as part of the preparation for a free trade area with the E.U., and institutional support for better co- operation between public administration in Morocco and E.U. member states. The aid will be topped up by loans from the European Investment Bank, which finances private sector projects. 03/02/2007, Nasdaq Morocco's King Mohammed VI has pardoned almost 9,000 prisoners to mark the birth of his daughter. More than 24,000 prisoners are to have their sentences re-duced, the justice ministry said in a statement. The BBC's Richard Hamilton in Morocco says it is the larg-est number of inmates to be given a royal pardon. The justice ministry said the pardon was motivated by hu-manitarian considerations, and a wish for prisoners to be re-integrated into Moroccan society. 03/02/2007, BBC News

Bladi Headlines

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Birth of Princess Lalla Khadija celebrated by Moroccan people Morocco's Princess Lalla Salma gave birth on Wednesday 02/28 to a girl, Lalla Khadija, the second child of King Mohammed VI, the royal family announced as cannons fired in the capital to sa-lute the birth. Residents living near the royal palace gathered to celebrate the birth of Lalla Khadija, the younger sister to the heir to the throne, Prince Hassan, who was born in 2003. Lalla Khadija is named after the princess's late mother. Moroccan investment environment primed to expand but challenges lay ahead with shortage of engineers at competitive prices In January 2007, the department of investment (DI) held its an-nual investment conference 'The Fundamentals of Investment' with a particular focus on human resources in Rabat, Morocco. During the conference, the DI announced a strategy for develop-ing an efficient education system and labor market policies ade-quate for the needs of economic development within the frame-work of the UN Development Program's Millennium Develop-ment Goals. The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Morocco has risen from $1.63 billion in 2005 to $2.24 billion in the first nine months of the year, excluding privatizations. The country is facing a potential shortage of qualified engineers, with an increasing number of companies competing for a limited pool. Engineers Wanted: Employers in the tourism, textile and agri-cultural industries, as well as in new sectors such as electronics, automobiles and aeronautics will add to the demand for engi-neers. A cooperation agreement between the IT Industry Asso-ciation and the government has identified a need for 30,000 IT engineers within the next 10 years. For instance, the Casashore project, an outsourcing complex, is expected to create jobs for 1,500 engineers over the next three years. Increasing graduates: The government intends to increase the number of graduating engineers to 9,000 a year by 2010. An additional 600 professionals will be trained as engineers and 400 engineers are expected to migrate to Morocco every year until the end of the decade. This summer, 24.4% of graduates re-mained unemployed, ready to be retrained. The private sector is also poised to play a pivotal role in the training of professionals. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), In-dia's largest exporter, recently concluded an agreement with the government of Morocco. TCS will set up a 500-employee offshore delivery center catering to French and Spanish speaking parts of Europe, which will become operational in January 2007. The company will provide IT training services in the kingdom that will help create over 25,000 jobs in the offshore center by 2010. Considering the growing interest by new investors, the DI decided to re-brand itself as 'Invest in Morocco' in order to focus exclusively on its role as an investment promotion agency. 02/28/2007, Executive Morocco may abolish death penalty Several human rights groups are calling on Morocco to change its penal code and become the first Arab nation to abolish the death penalty. 01/23/2007, BBC News

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