Meeting of the Morocco-US Working Group on Environmental Cooperation

This meeting of the Working Group evaluated the progress made to expand and deepen cooperation between the two countries on environmental issues.

This meeting was also an opportunity to inform the public of how the United States and Morocco cooperate to preserve and protect the environment in Morocco. Public involvement in the program for current and future work demonstrates a commitment to focus on transparent, democratic and participatory processes.

At this meeting reports describing the progress of projects of environmental cooperation were presented. The Secretary of State for Water and Environment, the Office for Water and Forests and the Fight against Desertification, the Agency's Partnership for Progress, Agency for Environment Protection United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - EPA), U.S. Department of Interior, the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National United States (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA) and the U.S. State Department have presented a series of projects they implement in Morocco and are beneficial for the environment and the Moroccan population and demonstrate the breadth and scope of these activities and their cooperative spirit.

Similarly, a new Action Plan was signed, which sets out a roadmap for environmental cooperation between the United States and Morocco until 2012. In this new Plan of Action, there are long-term objectives to support the development and implementation of laws on environmental protection, preservation of the environment and promoting sustainable development, enhancing transparency and public participation in the process of decision-making environment and promoting the culture of environmental protection and compliance with environmental laws. In this Action Plan, priority areas for future cooperation were identified and evaluation criteria established. The Action Plan will be posted on the site http://rabat.usembassy.gov

The United States and Morocco reiterated their strong commitment to work together to preserve and protect the environment and sustainable development.