Delegation from Morocco

Position Paper for the General Assembly Plenary

Represented by ESSEC Business School

The Morocco Delegation would like to set the agenda in the following or order: The role of intellectual property in facilitating trade and attracting foreign direct investment; The Role of Microcredit in Promoting Economic Development; as well as Freshwater management and economic development. The Kingdom of Morocco would like to reaffirm before the General Assembly Plenary his willingness to work on such issues which are some of the recent global greatest challenges and competing values. I. The role of intellectual property in facilitating trade and attracting foreign direct investment

Moroccan authorities are very concerned by the necessity to defend intellectual property to facilitate trade. Thus, the Kingdom of Morocco is strongly determined to have intellectual rights respected not only inside its borders but also in every member country of the United Nations. As written in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) each and every WTO member has to implement Intellectual Property Rights and [i]n doing so, it strikes a balance between the long term benefits and possible short term costs to society. Indeed, such rights guarantee the regulation of international trade in order to make it fair. We reckon that WIPOs main responsibility is to work towards developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property system. In that respect, developing countries need help from the organization when it comes to preparing and enforcing IP laws. Morocco has made great efforts to have that principle respected by its citizens, thanks to sensitization campaign among the population and with the voting of national laws in favor of stricter Intellectual Property Rights (IPs). The Law No. 2-00 on Copyright and Related Rights promulgated in February 15th 2000 aims at protecting authors of literary and artistic works and defines the subject matter of this protection as well as the measures, remedies and penalties applicable to piracy. We are convinced that strong IPRs provide protection against copying of exporters products and consequently increase the potential market for Foreign direct investment (FDI), or the investments of multinational corporations (MNCs). The Morocco delegation proposes to strengthen the pressure put on developing countries to implement strong IPRs on condition developed countries accept to share their knowledge by means of affordable licenses. Those licenses should even be compulsory in very specific fields such as health. In 2001, the Doha Declaration had been affirmed by a broad global consensus, but we have to bear in mind the necessity to simplify the access to essential medicine. Flexibility for the purpose of promoting access to essential medicines is one of the key principles put forward by the TRIPS Agreement. HIV treatments for instance need to be shared. Twenty-year patent term of developed countries companies required by the TRIPS shouldnt be extended, as well as exclusive rights for drug companies to pharmaceutical test data. The health of our population is at stake, this is a question of common concern that shouldnt be hindered by Intellectual Property Rights. Furthermore, we assume that developing countries have a great part to play in addressing counterfeit issues. Morocco voted the Circular No. 5051/410 relating to border measures to combat counterfeiting and piracy with respect to copyright and related rights empowered the Department of Customs and Indirect Taxation to suspend, at borders, the free circulation of merchandise suspected of being counterfeit or pirated. We also wished that the ATCA Agreement were ratified by more emerging and developing countries. On october 1st 2011, in the presence of the Moroccan ambassador to Japan, Samir Arrour et of the The Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC) director, Adil El Malki, Morocco signed the ACTA (Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) with the United States, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, Singapore, Australia and Canada. This reinforced the pressure put on copies and counterfeits in the numeric field. In return we demand the recognition of traditional products and folklore. What we deem essential is to promote innovation all over the world and to have those technical progress and ideas protected everywhere for a sixty year time at least. II. The Role of Microcredit in Promoting Economic Development

First, we would like to convey our gratitude having been supported by the United Nations when the Kingdom of Morocco implemented Microfinance. Despite his youth, the sector has known a great success especially after

the financial support of the UN Development Program under the "PNUD" MicroStart microfinance, which was founded in February 1998 and has provided financial support amounting to U.S. $ 1,7 million. Today, one third of the Arab people who benefit from microfinance is a Moroccan. Thus, as one the leader countries in the sector of microcredit, Morocco assumes that today is the very moment when we have to develop microcredit. Morocco assume that today is the very moment when we ought to develop microcredit to promote Economic Development as the United Nations has named 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) The purpose of IYC is to raise public awareness of the invaluable contributions of cooperative enterprises to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. Raising public awareness means expanding microcredit schemes to a growing number of developing countries. This reminds us of 2005 that was named the International Year of Microcredit, as Microfinance appears as the best way to create wealth for low-income people and to foster financially self-sufficient domestic private sectors. Consequently, we could define Microcredit a necessary tool to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and attain the bold ambition of reducing world poverty by half. The Morocco Delegation is aware that a few studies have cast doubt on the benefits of lending small amounts of money to very poor people. Microcredit has recently been harshly criticized by observers and allegedly considered a dangerous practice. Morocco reaffirms its deep trust in the microfinance principle to lift people out of poverty, even though we reckon the method has to be improved. The main issue is that founders of a for-profit microlender tend to make money off poor people. Therefore, we argue that loan programs should be ran by the government or at least regulated by national institution in order to prevent all kinds of drifts. This kind of regulation has been applied in the Kingdom of Morocco, notably by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity which has deployed its action on 3 major areas : the training of microcredit associations staff, the establishment of a system of information and the support to marketing of beneficiaries of microcredit programs. We propose to make this kind of measures compulsory in every country that implements microfinance schemes. Morocco also advises to carry out the mapping of microcredit associations in every country, so as to avoid mounted up debts and to easily regulate these organizations. Eventually, we strongly disapprove that politicians in some developing countries are currently encouraging borrowers not to repay their loans.

III- Fresh Water Management and Economic Development The very first commitment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: Morocco is convinced that this can be achieved by finding innovative irrigation systems to enhance agriculture production worldwide and better feed people all over the world. Morocco has always had drought years, but their frequency and severity have greatly increased since the early 1980s. Of the last 16 years, nine droughts have been recorded, whereas during the first half of the century there was on average only one drought every ten years. The country intends to build on its past policy achievements and redouble its efforts within the new global context, in accordance with prevailing concepts of sustainable human development. Water management in Morocco, like everywhere else, is tied to the management of other natural resources, and must address the needs of its three major users: agriculture, industry, and the household sector. We reaffirm our full support to the countries which strive to help their farmers who are still not rapidly adopting techniques and equipment that economize water irrigation to use sustainable irrigation methods, as Morocco exemplifies with its mass installation of drip irrigation systems in most of the rural zones. The Delegation of Morocco wants to underline that the challenge for the future is to maintain the waterpopulation balance at a level that does not impede the countrys development. The population must contain its growth rate and raise its socioeconomic level, and every possible technique must be developed to save water and protect it from pollution. Being aware of the role played by the international community in the sector of water and cleaning up, the Moroccan Delegation encourages these international partners to pursue this involvement, not only with Morocco but also with all the other countries confronted with water scarcity. The Delegation of Morocco wants to express again its esteem for the World Agricultural Report conducted by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology of Development (IAASTD) in 2008.