In response to an oral question on “the government’s strategy to encourage and attract investment in the digital sector”presented to the House of Representatives, the Minister stressed the importance of the strategic position of the Kingdom and its wealth in terms of skills and young energies in the field of digitization, as well as its positioning among the first three players in the field of outsourcing in Africa.
She noted that this sector employs 120,000 people. In addition to Moroccan investments, the field of digitization attracts investments from several countries including the United States, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Japan and India, Mezzour said. , noting that the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform is pursuing, in coordination with all partners and at a sustained pace, the conclusion of partnerships likely to boost investment in Morocco.
In this context, the Minister highlighted the efforts made at the international level, recalling her recent visit to India, a leading country and first destination in the world in the field of relocation services, and during which the signing, in coordination with the partners concerned, of a memorandum of understanding with an Indian company to launch an investment project in Morocco aimed at creating thousands of high value-added jobs in the field of coding, computer software and services. This memorandum of understanding marks the installation in Morocco of an Indian outsourcing giant, which operates in fifty countries and employs more than 200,000 people worldwide with a turnover of more than 11 billion dollars. in 2022, she said.
Mezzour returned to the visit of Safra Catz, president and general manager of the American company “Oracle” in the Kingdom, and the inauguration of the first R&D laboratory « Oracle Lab » in Africa, among its six centers in the world. She also mentioned the memorandums of understanding that have been signed between the government and four international companies to invest in the field of the relocation of services, and to create more than 5,000 direct and permanent jobs, particularly in Tangier, Fez, Rabat, Casablanca and Agadir.
At the national level, Mezzour continued, two agreements were signed last Saturday for the creation of a programming and coding school and a start-up incubation center at the regional level. from the Oriental. In addition, the Minister indicated that Morocco is working to complete the legal framework for the digital trust of users and the digital sovereignty of the Kingdom, in addition to its involvement in several international conventions in this area.
In response to a question regarding the “preservation of digital sovereignty”presented by the group of the National Rally of Independents, Mezzour pointed out that the issue of digital sovereignty has become relevant in recent years, especially with the great development of the digital sector and its daily uses in several transactions. In this regard, she recalled that several laws have been promulgated, including the law on cybersecurity and its implementing decree, a text which aims in particular to protect information and infrastructures of vital importance, and to prevent the hosting and the storage of sensitive data outside the national territory, as well as specifying the technical and regulatory conditions and rules, with a view to securing the information systems of the bodies and public establishments concerned by cyber risks.
The Directorate General for Information Systems Security, through the Center for Vigilance, Monitoring and Response to Computer Attacks, monitors, detects and responds to computer attacks likely to affect the security of the information systems of the Status, and coordinates a response to these events through the issuance of alerts and warnings and incident management.
In response to another question on “Administrative reform programs and the activation of internal control mechanisms and synergy between administrations”, Mezzour affirmed that the objective of the ministry is to reform the administration, digitize the services and develop projects that have a direct impact on the citizen and the company. As part of this reform, the ministry is working on the rehabilitation of the civil service, the strengthening of the organization of the administration, the development of public services, the strengthening of the digital transition of the administration and the placement of the user at the heart of these reforms, she said.
