 Good afternoon, and welcome back to Global Report. We have with us today Mayor Mohamed Siddiqui, who is the Mayor of Robot, which is the capital city of Morocco. Welcome back to the show. Yeah. Now, Mayor Siddiqui, in 2004, U.S. and Morocco signed a free trade agreement, and in 2006 it came into full effect. This Morocco and U.S. free trade agreement has been heard as a prime example of how free trade benefits mutual countries. So, in 2003, Morocco and the U.S. signed a free trade agreement, and it came into full effect in 2007. What does that mean for the relationship between Morocco and the U.S.? I'm going to talk a little bit about the history of Morocco and the U.S. relations. I already said in the first part what Morocco is like among the first countries that have recognized the United States, the independence of the United States. So, already, there is a very concrete relationship in history. And all the presidents of the United States and all the King of Morocco always maintain a privileged relationship, since Morocco is present on the international scene. The King of Morocco is the King of the Believers, Believers in Morocco, and all the Muslims in general. He is respected for his position. He is respected because he has a very important role. And in politics, at the level of the Middle East, Morocco is the King of Morocco, he is present, and his decision has an impact on politics. The same thing in Africa, and the same thing in Europe. We have friends in Europe, the French, the Spaniards, the Italians, all Europeans in general. And so, with that, indeed, this free trade agreement between Morocco and the U.S. is an agreement already there because the United States believes in Morocco's capacity, that is to say, its economic capacity, its economic development, its model that he has chosen for economic development. And he wanted to strengthen the historical relationship that existed. And so, he opened his doors to Moroccan products, and above all, the Moroccan organic products, the Moroccan artisan products, because we are not going to talk about the industry. Morocco does not have an industry superior to that of the United States. But still, we have a bio-agriculture, we have a more natural agriculture, and we also have products of the Moroccan artisan that are very requested in the United States. And so, this free trade agreement opportunity facilitates the access of these products to the American market. So, everyone takes advantage. First of all, the American demand is found in the products, and also the Moroccan exporter, and he easily exports them with less frail, customs, less border constraints, customs, etc. So, first of all, I want to talk about the historical relationship. As I said in the first part, the United States is the first country that recognizes Morocco as an independent country. And since then, the relationship has only improved. And Morocco has many friends, whether it is in Europe or in the rest of Africa. But what this free trade agreement shows is that the U.S. recognizes the economic potential of Morocco, and the system, the economic system that Morocco has chosen. So, for instance, of course, we can't talk about industrial activities because Morocco has very little of this, but it's partly with agriculture and craft, and more specifically, organic agriculture. It's in this field that there is a lot of possibilities. It's an ongoing relationship. Now, you mentioned agriculture. I know that that's one of the main industries of Morocco. When the treaty first came about, there were some concerns among the Moroccans that this might threaten domestic agriculture. How did Morocco overcome that? You mentioned agriculture. There were doubts about the potential of expansion of Moroccan agriculture. With this new free trade agreement, do you think that Moroccan agriculture will be able to bring so much benefit that it was expected? Yes, yes. But I was talking about a type of agriculture. I was talking about organic agriculture and natural agriculture. There is a strong demand for Moroccan organic products, Moroccan agricultural products, which are demanded. There is the Moroccan olive oil, which is demanded. There is the Moroccan d'argan oil, which is demanded. There are other organic products, even a organic tree, and above all oranges. Morocco is known for oranges, a quality of oranges all over the world. Even in Asia, Moroccans arrive in Russia. They arrive all over Europe. Of course, there is a competition between some European countries, but there are still Moroccan oranges all over the world. So there are the agricultural products that are demanded in the United States. I think the biggest part of the trade is, as I said, to do with organic and natural products, especially olive oil, argan oil, all these and oranges. All these products are exported all over the world, in Asia, in America, in the rest of Africa. Well, congratulations on the free trade agreement because it boosted Moroccan exports to the United States by close to $200 million. And it actually boosted United States exports to Morocco by $1.4 billion. So this has been a win-win for both countries, indeed. So congratulations on this free trade agreement because it boosted Moroccan exports to the United States by close to $200 million. And it boosted United States exports to Morocco by close to $2 billion. Yes, because the relationship between Morocco and the United States is normal. It's the same scale. Yes, because the scale is very big and there is a scale relationship between the two countries that is understandable, which leads to these numbers. Right, and I mean it's a win-win for both countries. Now, Mr. Mayor, you're here in Singapore for the World Cities Summit and the Mayor's Forum. The Mayor's Forum was a closed event, so if you don't mind sharing with us some of the things that took place. I understand there were two sessions and the first session was about how mayors, how cities can embrace the disruptive innovations. So Mr. Savicky, you were here for the World Cities Summit. You participated in the Mayor's Forum, which was a closed event for the public and for journalists. So I would like to understand how it happened. I would like to know more. I understood that the first session was about technological innovations. Can you tell us more about that? Not only technological innovations, innovation is always about innovations. And as I said to someone who asked me almost the same question, I told him about this forum. If each mayor provides a solution for success, even in the room, they provide thousands and hundreds of successful experiences. And the exchanges take place. So the interest is there. The interest is that you have a successful experience, I have a successful experience, and we exchange the successful experience. So we talked about all the successes, not only technological, but the second part, at least for the mayor, is that we talked about what we have done in our cities. Why did they become like that? And I talked about the Rabah city, the two big projects that made this city a revolution in the north of Africa and in the Middle East. Not only in Morocco, but in the north of Africa and the Middle East. I will continue. So I want to emphasize that it's not only technological innovations that we discussed, but in the room, we were 100 mayors also, and so there were hundreds or thousands of positive experiences. So what everyone did was sharing those positive experiences, those successes, and in my particular city, I explained two projects that are ongoing. And I want to say that if every mayor brings just one success, all the cities in the world can benefit from this shared experience. That is a wonderful suggestion. Excuse me, that was the first part. Second part. For example, at the Rabah city, I talked about two projects that made the city a revolution. The city of Rabah, historically, turned the water to the sea and to the river. But now, with the evolution of the world and our revolution, even the Moroccans and the people of Rabah, we said, no, we have to explore the border of the sea and the river, and we made a gigantic change always initiated by His Majesty the King, because if the means of the commune does not allow such big investments at the city level, we have equipped 6,000 hectares, almost 10% of the current surface of the city, that is, we developed it at the edge of the river, the valley of the Bulgarian and at the level of the Cornish of Rabah, on 13 km. In particular, these two great projects that are happening at the moment in Rabah are in the Bulgarian valley. So there is the redevelopment along the river and the redevelopment of the waterfront. All in all, it represents 6,000 hectares, which is almost 10% of the total city area. And these projects have revolutionized urban planning in the city. And there is a second... I will come back to the Bulgarian valley and the second big project is always initiated by His Majesty the King, that is, he, the government and he, the head of the state, he gave the means for capital. We started a project baptizing Rabah, city, light, capital, cultural of Morocco. I want to remind you of that. Rabah, city, light, capital, cultural of Morocco. This project, too, is to take back the already existing part of the city, the first part. It is a new area that we have moved open to urbanization and to the redevelopment and to other constructions. But the second program is to put a level of city access, of city transport means, of social neighbourhoods, of the social part at the city level, of the cultural part at the city level and, in general, the green spaces because Rabah is a green city among the five green cities in the world. And so, we made even more effort for this city to remain attractive and attract more tourists and attract more that is, inhabitants, people ask them to buy a housing at Rabah's city level and attract tourists and make it beautiful to live. Like that, if someone, people who visit Rabah every two months see an evolution. It's not every year, every two months. Only two months, we can see how the whole city is upside down, how the whole city is changed, how the whole city is being renewed, restored and people see an evolution every day at the city level. History at the forefront of urban strategies and urban policies. So, it's a green city. It's been a green city since 2003 and this, of course, creates a great attractivity. There's a higher-than-ever demand for housing and we are responding to that and today, people see the city change every two months. Not every year, but literally every two months. So, it's very dynamic. Yesterday, I was received by the Minister of National Development, the Minister of Singapore and last night I gave 10 people from Singapore to talk to them about Rabah and to talk to them about the investment in Rabah and Morocco at the same time. By saying that the men of affairs and the government of Singapore must have a very good place at the risk of Moroccan investment, that is, next to other European and American investors and golfers who trust Morocco and who chose Morocco as a destination for investment. For instance, yesterday morning, I was in a meeting with the second Minister of National Development, Mr Desmondi of Singapore and in the evening I was with the ambassador of Singapore to Morocco and at dinner with the investors from Singaporean companies and this shows that Singapore trusts and is expecting a lot from the Moroccan economy and from Rabah and that this relationship with Singapore is developing as much as the one with the US and with the Middle East and with the rest of Asia. Well, thank you so much. I want to shift gear because I know we don't have much time left. I just want to talk about an issue that's kind of going around the world today. The western media tends to follow on the militant extremist Islamist when they talk about Islam. Do you think that the Muslim country should speak out more against the extremist Islamist? What do you think about these discussions in the international media? First of all we don't have any problem with extremism in Morocco. Morocco has always known a stability of its political choice His Majesty the King made a good choice and the choice of the political men there is a consensus and the Moroccan people is not extremist. If there is a person or two, it's a particular case. So Morocco has a total stability and in the security service they do their job and there is no problem. And there is all the tolerance. Moreover, Morocco has given a very good example at the global level they form the imams they are religious for most of the countries of South Africa Morocco does the training France and Spain have made trust in the Moroccan model and Morocco forms the imams for their mosques in Spain and in France Italy and all the European countries Morocco is a model of tolerance Morocco is a model but there is Islam of tolerance Islam does not pose any problem and Morocco does not know since 2003 there has been a an amateur like that but since then Morocco is quiet security services are capable they do their job they detect that there are things on the left but Morocco does not know its stability it is even trying to promote a model of true Islam of tolerance and by the way you see Saint-Majesté in Africa he is well received by the population because he gives the example of a true Muslim who does not have any problem so first of all it must be said that Morocco is an extremist country it is very stable politically very stable country for instance if there are some extremists it is really an exception for instance Morocco trains imams for mosques in south of Africa and in Europe many countries now trust Morocco imams like France like Spain like Italy so Morocco is becoming a center of respect and acceptance for Islam growing up in Singapore I have Christian friends Muslim friends Hindu friends I can attest that I think that the religion of Islam is very much misunderstood in the west the media is so biased and I am so happy to hear about the success of robot in Morocco and I wish your city and your country continued success in your relationship not just with the United States and Singapore but with the rest of the world Thank you so much and thank you for being on our show Thank you Mr. Mayer Thank you Thank you Thank you