King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Friday urged faster reforms to generate employment for young people, enhance public services, and reduce regional disparities, particularly in mountain and oasis areas.
The King made the appeal in a speech opening the new parliamentary session, a week after large youth-led demonstrations calling for better healthcare, education, and an end to corruption.
Morocco operates as a constitutional monarchy, where the King defines the main policy directions, which are then carried out by an elected government.
Although he did not directly address the protesters, King Mohammed VI emphasised that national flagship projects and social programmes should work in harmony rather than in competition.
He called for “a faster implementation pace and stronger impacts from the next generation of local development programmes,” referring to plans he had tasked the government to draft in July. Priority areas, he said, should include job creation for young people and “tangible progress in education and health,” as well as local rehabilitation initiatives.
Official figures show Morocco’s unemployment rate stands at 12.8%, while youth unemployment has reached 35.8% and 19% among graduates.
The King highlighted the need for special attention to “the most fragile areas,” particularly mountainous regions.
Although poverty in Morocco has fallen from 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024, mountain and oasis regions continue to record above-average poverty rates, according to national statistics.
The country’s population, industrial and financial centres, and much of its critical infrastructure remain concentrated in the northwest, leaving other regions dependent on agriculture, fishing, and tourism.
Thousands gathered along the avenue leading to parliament to greet King Mohammed VI, who appeared in traditional attire, accompanied by his brother and his son, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan.
In contrast, the same square in front of parliament saw only a small demonstration on Thursday night, organised by Morocco’s Generation Z movement — a decentralised, leaderless group known as GenZ 212.
The group announced on its Discord server that it would suspend protests on Friday out of respect for the King.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassinat...
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos arrived in Türkiye on Friday for high-level talks centred on the modernisation of the EU-Türkiye C...
Mexico is assessing whether it can resume fuel deliveries to Cuba without triggering U.S. tariffs, as both sides hold frequent talks and Havana warns ...
Iran and the United States opened nuclear talks in Oman on Friday, with Tehran calling the meeting a good start and both sides agreeing to continue di...
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile...
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before detonating a suicide bomb that killed at least 31 people in the deadliest assault of its kind in the capital in more than ten years.
If Fars News Agency is to be believed, Iran's neighbours should be on alert. The agency, which reportedly mirrors the views of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned Azerbaijan and Türkiye that if the U.S. and Israel attack Iran, they will become "legitimate targets for Tehran."
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Winter weather has brought air travel in the German capital to a complete halt, stranding thousands of passengers as severe icing conditions make runways and aircraft unsafe for operation and force authorities to shut down one of Europe’s key transport hubs.
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos arrived in Türkiye on Friday for high-level talks centred on the modernisation of the EU-Türkiye Customs Union, which both sides have described as vital to the future of bilateral relations.
Mexico is assessing whether it can resume fuel deliveries to Cuba without triggering U.S. tariffs, as both sides hold frequent talks and Havana warns of worsening shortages.
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile nuclear diplomacy on Friday, as negotiators from both sides held critical mediated talks in Muscat, Oman.
The United States has accused Beijing of conducting a covert nuclear test in 2020, adding fresh strain to already fraught relations as Washington presses for a broader arms control treaty to include China as well as Russia.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s top brass since the start of the war in Ukraine.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment