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U.S. POLICY TOWARD MOROCCO

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

APRIL 9, 2014

Serial No. 113–134

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

PAUL COOK, California 

GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

LUKE MESSER, Indiana 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

TOM COTTON, Arkansas 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

DOUG COLLINS, Georgia 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

LUKE MESSER, Indiana 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III, Massachusetts 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Mr. William Roebuck, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and 

Maghreb Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of 

State ...................................................................................................................... 6

Ms. Alina Romanowski, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for the Middle East, U.S. Agency for International Development ...................................... 14

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Mr. William Roebuck: Prepared statement ........................................................... 8

Ms. Alina Romanowski: Prepared statement ........................................................ 16

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 34

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 35

(1)

U.S. POLICY TOWARD MOROCCO 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3 o’clock p.m., in room 

2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. The subcommittee will come to order. We 

will sadly soon be interrupted for votes, but getting interrupted for 

democracy is a good thing. 

After recognizing myself and Ranking Member Deutch for 5 minutes each for our opening statements, I will then recognize other 

members seeking recognition for 1 minute. We will then hear from 

our witnesses and without objection, the witnesses’ prepared statements will be made a part of the record and members may have 

5 days to insert statements and questions for the record subject to 

the length limitation and the rules. The chair now recognizes herself for 5 minutes. 

With all the upheaval, instability, and social unrest in the wake 

of the Arab Spring, Morocco is designated as a major non-NATO 

ally and is working toward a political transition in instituting 

democratic reforms. Three years ago, King Mohammed proposed 

constitutional reforms that would push Morocco toward democracy 

and reform, shifting some power that was centralized in a monarchy to the people. This new constitution was ratified a few 

months later and was succeeded by parliamentary elections that 

saw a new government formed, complete with a new Prime Minister from an opposition party with a mandate to have more power 

to govern. Of course, the political situation in Morocco is still not 

perfect, but it is important for us to recognize the positive steps forward. 

On the issue of the Western Sahara, long-standing U.S. policy, 

which I support, advocates for a solution based on a formula of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. While I recognize the advancement that the kingdom has made, when it comes to human 

rights, certainly more can still be done. According to the 2013 State 

Department Human Rights Report on Western Sahara, ‘‘The most 

important human rights problem specific to the territory was Moroccan Government restrictions on the civil liberties and political 

rights of pro-independence advocates.’’

2

Morocco has made strides in expanding women’s rights and has 

created the National Council of Human Rights to evaluate all the 

human rights issues. As allies, we should work together as partners to accelerate their plans to implement the constitutional reforms that urge gender equality and parity. Since becoming the 

very first nation to formally recognize the newly independent 

United States of America, Morocco and the United States have 

shared a strategic and bilateral relationship. It is one that has continued to strengthen over the past few years as we have just seen 

Secretary Kerry return from a trip in which he took part in the second round of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue aimed at deepening our bilateral cooperation on a variety of issues. 

Our nation signed and implemented a free trade agreement nearly 10 years ago and there is certainly room to grow for both the 

Moroccan and U.S. economies through U.S. commercial investment 

and expansion of American businesses in the Maghreb. Last year, 

Morocco successfully completed a 5-year Millennium Challenge 

Corporation Compact in which the U.S. helped Morocco increase 

productivity, employment prospects, investment, and economic 

growth. MCC concluded that the results on the compact were impressive, given the complexity of the endeavor with tens of thousands, mostly women, learning to read and write through the literacy program. 

So the political transition toward democracy is being paralleled 

by Morocco’s economic transition which is under way. But that is 

contingent upon Morocco remaining a safe and stable country and 

that is yet another area in which our two nations collaborate closely. While the rest of the region struggles to cope with radicalization 

and Islamic fundamentalism, Morocco is working to foster and 

spread a more moderate form of Islam in the Muslim Kingdom. 

One way Morocco promotes religious moderation and tolerance is 

through its nearly 10-year-old program in which it trains women 

in Islamic theology right alongside their male counterparts, an idea 

that would not only be taboo in many other countries in the region, 

but would likely be highly illegal. While the kingdom has not been 

immune to the threat of home-grown extremism, Morocco is on the 

front lines of fighting terrorism throughout the region. Our two nations work closely in this regard and Morocco has proven to be an 

important ally. 

One important counterterrorism effort that we can work closely 

with Morocco on is the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Program 

which aims to address the potential terrorist and security threats 

in Northwest Africa and the Sahel region, but we can and must do 

more. The administration must continue to see Morocco as the potential for what other North African transitional countries can do 

and we must look to glean the best practices from its approach and 

see how they can be implemented in neighboring countries as well. 

And with that, I turn to my good friend, the ranking member, 

Mr. Deutch of Florida. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madame Chairman. Thanks for holding 

today’s hearing. Thanks to our witnesses for being here today to examine the long-standing United States-Morocco partnership. And 

when we say long-standing, we mean it as Morocco was the very 

3

first country to recognize a U.S. independence. It is nice to have 

Ambassador Bouhlal here as well. Thank you for joining us. 

Last November, President Obama welcomed King Mohammed to 

the White House to affirm our strategic relationship and commit to 

strengthen and mutual cooperation on a host of significant issues. 

On the security front, Morocco has emerged as a critical partner in 

our efforts to fight extremism and promote stability in the Maghreb 

and in the Sahel. Morocco is one of only two African countries to 

be designated as a major non-NATO ally and is a member of the 

Global Counterterrorism Forum. 

Just last week, the United States and Morocco concluded the annual African Lion joint military exercise with approximately 350 

service members, 150 Moroccan Royal Armed Forces members and 

participants from various European African partners. This level of 

cooperation is paramount to confronting the threats posed by 

groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic Maghreb and other al-Qaeda 

affiliated militias and to assist in our joint efforts to stem weapons 

transfers and narcotrafficking across the continent. It is clear that 

Morocco is committed to taking substantial action to prevent 

Northern Africa from becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups. 

I would also like to highlight a unique initiative launched by the 

king to train imams from Mali, Tunisia, Libya, Guinea and the 

Ivory Coast and Morocco. It is my understanding that the first 

group of 100 imams have already arrived. This is a welcome approach to curbing the spread of extremist ideology in a volatile region of the world. 

In addition to its leadership role on regional security matters, 

Morocco has pursued greater bilateral ties on economic and development issues with many of its African neighbors. In November, 

the king signed 18 agreements with Mali on a range of issues from 

microfinance to energy. But Morocco still struggles with its own 

economic development as the economy has been adversely affected 

by the economic troubles in Europe, Morocco’s largest trading partner. 

The 2011 expansion in state spending on social programs, public 

hiring, and subsidies has also put a strain on the economy. Unemployment rates among youths are estimated at 22 percent among 

males, and 38 percent among females. I am pleased that one of the 

pillars of USAID’s new country development strategy signed in November 2013 is addressing youth unemployment. 

Political reforms initiated by the king in response to unrest have 

seen success, and we must continue to help shepherd along reforms 

that will address civil society participation. USAID remains focused 

on helping to build civil society to include expanded roles for 

women in a political and economic space. 

The United States has also contributed to Morocco’s economic 

growth in a significant way through the completion of a $698 million Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact and the country 

has not been selected for a second compact. 

Morocco has long played a leading role in fostering greater cooperation between North Africa and the Middle East, coordinating 

closely on farm policy matters with the Gulf Cooperation Council. 

As chair of the Al-Quds Committee and the Organization of Islamic 

Cooperation, we look to Morocco to play a positive role in helping 

4

to foster continued peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We cannot forget that it was King Hassan that in the 

1980s took the bold step of inviting then Prime Minister Shimon 

Perez to Morocco for peace talks. In that vein, many of us were concerned to see a law proposed in Parliament late last year that 

would have criminalized any normalization of relations with Israel. 

I hope that we will not see any advancement of this proposal. 

Finally, in advance of the king’s visit last November, Chairman 

Ros-Lehtinen and I reiterated our support for the long-standing 

U.S. policy to support a solution to this dispute based on a formula 

of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. This policy has enjoyed 

the support of the last three administrations and continues to earn 

strong bipartisan support in Congress. With over 200 years of 

friendship between our two countries, the U.S.-Morocco partnership 

will only be strengthened by the launch of last year’s strategic dialogue. As Secretary Kerry said last week during his visit, the strategic dialogue will contribute to the ability of the United States and 

Morocco to show that we value something a lot more powerful than 

our past and that is the future. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on how we can continue to help Morocco bolster its economic and security situation as 

we continue to enhance the U.S.-Morocco partnership. I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Deutch and we 

would like to acknowledge the presence of the Ambassador of the 

Kingdom of Morocco to the United States. Thank you, Ambassador 

Bouhlal for being with us today. You are a dear friend. Thank you 

so much. 

And now I am pleased to yield for his opening statement to the 

chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Chabot 

of Ohio. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Madame Chair, and thank you for holding this hearing. We have witnessed political and humanitarian crises all around the world in recent times, but we don’t hear that 

much from Morocco and maybe that is not a bad thing. We are 

looking forward to hearing from our witnesses today and getting an 

update on our current relationship with the kingdom and a status 

report on regional political situations. 

We know that in 2011, King Mohammed responded to the ongoing Arab Spring by drafting a new constitution which was subsequently adopted by popular referendum that afforded new authority to elected officials. I hope our witnesses can speak to how that 

reform is being carried out. 

Additionally, I hope our witnesses will comment on the performance of the Justice and Development Party and Islamist Party 

which in 2012 won the largest number of parliamentary seats in 

the Moroccan election. So there is a lot to talk about and so I will 

stop talking and I yield back and look forward to hearing our witnesses. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Chairman Chabot. And 

so pleased to yield to another Florida colleague, Lois Frankel for 

her opening statement. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Madame Chair, it is a little lonely down at this 

end. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Come in closer, come on over. 

5

Ms. FRANKEL. I will. First, thank you so much for being here. I 

am very interested in this, and Madame Chair, I have a number 

of questions, but I would like to hear our witnesses’ testimony and 

then I will go forward with them. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Now we turn to Mr. Cotton for any opening 

statement he would like to make. And the subcommittee is very 

pleased to have a special guest with us today, Mr. Grimm, who has 

been a long-time friend of Morocco and has been very much involved in their issues. Please give an opening statement if you 

could, Mr. Grimm. 

Mr. GRIMM. Well, thank you so much, Madame Chairwoman. As 

the co-chair of the Congressional Morocco Caucus I thank you for 

holding this hearing and for inviting me to be with you today 

among my friends, so thank you. Morocco, it has already been said 

and everyone knows, has historically been one of America’s strongest and most reliable allies. Currently, the Kingdom of Morocco is 

a strong partner in combatting terrorism throughout North Africa 

and Morocco is also the only country in the African continent in 

which we have a free trade agreement. So I think that is extremely 

important to note. 

King Mohammed successfully weathered the Arab Spring mostly 

by listening to the Moroccan people and making appropriate reforms and for this I think he should be commended. As already 

mentioned, Madame Chairwoman, during President Obama’s recent meeting with King Mohammed, they specifically pledged and 

I quote, ‘‘A shared commitment to advancing the peaceful resolution to the Western Sahara issue based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.’’ Well, I believe that the United States Congress 

has a responsibility to assist Morocco in achieving this resolution. 

The State Department, USAID, and other development agencies in 

the United States Government must devote some of their assistance funds for Morocco to projects designed to improve the quality 

of life for the people of Western Sahara. So I am very excited to 

be here. I thank you again. And I am looking forward to hearing 

from our witnesses today. Thank you and I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Grimm, and you are 

always welcome to come to our subcommittee. Thank you. And we 

are so pleased to welcome our excellent witnesses today. First, we 

welcome Mr. William Roebuck who is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Egypt and Maghreb Affairs. Before this, he 

served as Charge d’Affairs in Tripoli for 6 months from January to 

June 2013 and as Director for the Office of Maghreb Affairs in the 

State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs from 2010 to 

2012. Welcome, Mr. Roebuck. 

We also have with us Ms. Alina Romanowski. Did I do that pretty well? I have got a difficult name so I don’t worry if someone mispronounces mine. And Ms. Romanowski is currently Acting Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Bureau at the U.S. Agency 

for International Development. Prior to this position, Ms. 

Romanowski, and of course, Eddy would put her name in every 

sentence here, served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the 

Middle East Bureau focusing on U.S. assistance programs in supVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:29 May 27, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\040914\87518 SHIRL
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port of political transitions in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco. 

We welcome our witnesses and we will begin with you, Mr. Roebuck. Your prepared statements will be made a part of the record. 

Please feel free to summarize them. 

STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM ROEBUCK, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EGYPT AND MAGHREB AFFAIRS, 

BUREAU OF NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

STATE 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you very much, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, 

Ranking Member Deutch, members of the subcommittee, Congressman Grimm, thank you very much. I am honored to appear before 

you today to offer you these remarks on U.S. policy to Morocco. I 

am pleased to appear with my good friend, USAID Assistant Deputy Administrator Alina Romanowski. I have had the pleasure of 

working with Alina to further our foreign policy objectives in Morocco and in the region. We welcome the opportunity to speak to 

you today and look forward to answering any questions you might 

have about Morocco or our policy toward Morocco. 

With your permission, I will request that my full statement be 

submitted to the record. So I will just summarize here briefly. 

Madame Chairman, as you know, Morocco, as several of you have 

mentioned, is the first nation to have recognized the United States 

in 1777. It is an important and long-standing ally. We continue to 

enjoy a very strong bilateral relationship with Morocco focused on 

promoting regional stability, supporting democratic reform efforts, 

countering violent extremism, and strengthening trade and cultural 

ties. We worked to strengthen our relationship with Morocco during the November 2013 visit of King Mohammed VI to Washington. 

This visit provided an opportunity for the United States to affirm 

our close strategic partnership with Morocco and to discuss the 

best means of promoting security and prosperity in the region. 

We continued our conversations during the recent U.S.-Morocco 

Strategic Dialogue which Secretary Kerry opened in Rabat on April 

4th. This Dialogue was originally launched 2012 and it discussed 

new avenues for cooperation in the political, security, economic, 

educational, and cultural spheres. We are also very pleased that 

our new Ambassador to Morocco, Dwight Bush, was confirmed in 

March and has arrived in Rabat. 

Regarding briefly democratic reforms in Morocco, under King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan political system has gradually liberalized. A new constitution, as several of you noted, was adopted in 

2011 and Morocco’s first Islamist-led government won nationwide 

democratic elections. The country moved forward in 2013 with calibrated, but steady, political and economic reforms. We have a robust dialogue with the Moroccan Government on human rights and 

on ways in which we can support this on-going process of political 

reform. 

Our mutual concern for peace and stability in the region means 

that the United States and Morocco are fully engaged on both economic and security cooperation. On economic cooperation, USAID’s 

new country development strategy directly addresses the issue of 

youth employment, a key driver of instability in the region through 

the creation of new vocational programs and career centers. The 

7

United States and Morocco also recently held the second U.S.-Morocco Business Development Conference in Rabat with 58 American 

companies participating. Regarding security cooperation, Morocco is 

one of our closest counterterrorism partners. Morocco is an active 

member, as you have noted, of the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership and also the Global Counterterrorism Forum. 

Regarding Western Sahara, the United States supports the 

United Nations-led process designed to bring about a peaceful, sustainable, and mutually acceptable solution to the Western Sahara 

question. U.S. policy toward Western Sahara has remained consistent for many years. We support the work of U.S. Secretary General’s personal envoy, former U.S. Ambassador Chris Ross in his efforts to find a mutually-acceptable solution. 

Regarding education and cultural cooperation, the United States 

and Morocco have a long history of people-to-people ties. One recent example is Morocco’s support of the J. Christopher Stevens 

Virtual Exchange Initiative. The initiative is designed to fuel the 

largest ever growth in people-to-people exchanges between the 

United States and the broader Middle East. And Morocco has graciously committed to donate $1 million per year over the next 5 

years to this initiative. 

Madame Chairman, Ranking Member Deutch, members of the 

subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you 

today and I look forward to answering any questions you might 

have. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Roebuck follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much, sir. 

Ms. Romanowski. 

STATEMENT OF MS. ALINA ROMANOWSKI, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, U.S. 

AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member 

Deutch, members of the subcommittee, and Congressman Grimm, 

thank you for inviting me here today to discuss how USAID continues to support U.S. foreign policy and development objectives in 

Morocco. And I am very pleased to be here also with my colleague, 

Bill Roebuck, with whom I work closely every day. 

For the past 56 years, we have partnered with the Government 

of Morocco to build a strong relationship that focuses on promoting 

economic growth, improving educational opportunities, and 

strengthening the effectiveness of civil society. During this time, we 

have worked to make substantial improvements in the lives of everyday Moroccans including improving maternal and child health, 

constructing two major dams, transforming thousands of semi-arid 

acres into productive agricultural land, and helping Morocco’s 

microfinance sector. 

We are proud and remain committed to this partnership which 

is why during the visit of King Mohammed VI to Washington last 

year, USAID and the Government of Morocco jointly launched a 

new 5-year country development strategy. Developed in collaboration with the Moroccan Government, civil society, and the private 

sector, the new strategy responds to the needs of Moroccan citizens 

and focuses on three key objectives, increasing youth employment, 

enhancing civic participation in governance, and improving education for children in primary schools. As we focus on these three 

objectives, we recognize that we must be strategic in our investments amid an increasingly strained budget outlook. Therefore, we 

are focusing like never before on strengthening alliances with key 

regional allies and building public-private partnerships with such 

entities as Microsoft, Volvo, and Chevron. 

USAID’s economic growth programs are aimed at directly addressing youth unemployment. Young people make up about 30 

percent of Morocco’s population. That is about 10 million people. 

Large numbers of Moroccan graduates are unable to find jobs commensurate with their education and training, while employers complain of skills, shortages, and mismatches. Without a trained workforce, capable of increasing productivity, Morocco cannot generate 

sufficient prosperity through private sector growth. To address this 

and other obstacles, USAID is launching the Youth Employability 

Project. This new initiative will facilitate partnerships between 

government ministries, Moroccan universities, and technical institutes, as well as local NGOs and the private sector to create workforce development services for a broad range of youth. For example, 

we are currently working with 40 startup Moroccan businesses to 

locate new markets and realize sustainable revenue flows. 

In the Democracy and Governance sector, USAID is responding 

directly to the Government of Morocco’s push to strengthen political parties and increase the roles of civil society organizations in 

the political process. We are currently working with more than 80 

15

local governments to create platforms for dialogue between Moroccan citizens and their locally elected officials, especially for youth 

and women. 

USAID’s third strategic focus in Morocco is improving primary 

school education. USAID has improved quality and access to elementary and middle school, especially for rural girls. Enrollment of 

girls in rural areas increased from 62 percent in 2000 to 83 percent 

in 2004, but despite these gains, Morocco still faces an overall literacy rate of only 55 percent. In conjunction with Morocco’s own 

education reform effort, USAID is targeting early grade reading. 

These programs are designed to improve early literacy and help 

curb primary grade dropout rates. USAID is also implementing innovative community and school-driven development projects in over 

190 schools. 

Finally, USAID is also responding to a critical challenge of countering violent extremism. In those programs, we target areas in 

Morocco where youth suffer from social, economic, and political disaffection and exclusion. These areas are known recruitment 

grounds for violent extremist and transnational terrorist networks. 

Our program is aimed at reintegrating at-risk youth into mainstream society, given Moroccan youth a voice, and opportunities in 

their communities. 

So in conclusion, USAID is proud of the strong relationship we 

have built with the Government of Morocco over the past 56 years. 

Morocco continues to face significant challenges, but also significant opportunities. USAID programs will continue to provide assistance that will increase employment opportunities for Moroccan 

youth, build the reading skills of Moroccan children and advance 

participatory governance in addition to countering violent extremist 

threats and strengthening regional stability and security. 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, and 

we are looking forward to answering your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Romanowski follows:]

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. And thank you to both of you for 

excellent testimony. We will begin our question and answer period. 

As we have said, the U.S. and Morocco share a strategic and dynamic bilateral relationship. In the omnibus bill that we passed in 

January, Congress authorized that funds designated for Morocco 

could also be used in the Western Sahara for literacy training programs. The bill requests that a report from the State Department 

on this issue and the report is due next week. Can you describe 

what the report will entail and if it will be delivered on time? 

Then on the threat of fundamentalism in the area, the threat of 

radical Islam and extremism spreading through North Africa and 

indeed throughout the entire African continent is a very real threat 

and a cause for alarm. That is why the United States has put such 

an emphasis on working with Morocco to counter these threats. 

How would you describe the cooperation with Morocco on the 

counterterrorism front? Is it as good as it can be? Is it getting better? Are you satisfied with it? And to what extent are programs 

like the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Program working? What 

more needs to be done both on Morocco’s side and the U.S. side to 

improve it? 

And as we discussed just last week, Secretary Kerry was in 

Rabat to take part in the second round of the U.S.-Morocco Strategic Dialogue. Can you briefly explain what came out of that latest 

round in the dialogue? What did we achieve? What did we accomplish? And what challenges still remain? Thank you. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman. I will start 

maybe in reverse order and work my way back up. The Strategic 

Dialogue was a big success. Secretary Kerry opened it. We had a 

strong team that came out from the State Department that participated in it. The purpose of this dialogue is to accentuate and highlight the strong strategic partnership we have with Morocco and we 

focus on a range of areas, three working groups in particular: Political security, economic and commercial cooperation, and education 

and cultural cooperation. I think we made strong steps forward in 

all three of these groups. The political and security group, there 

was a robust discussion of Morocco’s progress on domestic reforms 

and also encouragement from Morocco’s efforts on counterterrorism. The economic and commercial cooperation group discussed 

promoting regional economic integration and also Morocco and the 

U.S. trade investment relationship and particularly trying to 

strengthen the benefits for Morocco of the U.S.-Morocco free trade 

agreement. 

On education and cultural cooperation, as I mentioned earlier, 

there was a discussion of the Chris Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative, efforts to improve on interfaith dialogue and understanding, and a discussion of various educational and cultural exchange programs we have with Morocco, including for example, the 

Fulbright program. 

On the threat of fundamentalism and extremism in Morocco and 

in the region at large, I share your concern, Madame Chairman. 

This is not a new phenomenon. This is something that has been developing in the region over the past decade really. It has been fed 

in some ways in the past several years by developments in Mali, 

in the wider Sahel, and also in Libya where there has been a deteVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:29 May 27, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\040914\87518 SHIRL
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riorating security situation in the past 21⁄2 years. We work very 

closely with Morocco on counterterrorism. I think that our partnership is quite strong. We have a number of programs, a number of 

vehicles that we use to fund these programs. Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership is one. We use funding through NADR as 

well as INL money to—it is focused primarily on strengthening Morocco’s law enforcement and criminal justice system. It also provides training for law enforcement people who are involved in antiterrorism efforts to strengthen their professionalism and strengthen their efforts with things like Internet, forensic investigation, the 

ability to do criminal investigations in general and use these types 

of law enforcement tools as a means for combatting terrorism. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. And I apologize, my 

time is up. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Deutch is recognized. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Thank you, Madame Chairman. Deputy Assistant 

Secretary Roebuck, just to follow up on this discussion, clearly, security cooperation is a critical component of the relationship. And 

you had included in your testimony the figure of 49 percent of Moroccan youth are neither in school nor in the workforce which is a 

staggering figure, I think. I know we share concerns with Morocco 

that some segments of that population might be vulnerable to extremist recruitment. The porous borders of North Africa make it 

easy to say, go be paid to fight in Syria for a few months, come 

back to Morocco. Can you discuss ways in which the U.S. and Morocco are working together to address that specific security concern? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. The issue of foreign fighters? 

Mr. DEUTCH. Yes. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. The United States and Morocco work closely on 

this. This is largely an effort that has to be directed by Morocco, 

but we consult with the Moroccan Government closely on this 

issue. We recognize that it is a serious issue for the Morocco Government. A lot of it has to do with the need for a multi-faceted approach to this and to a counterterrorism approach in general and 

this is what the Moroccan Government has in place. Part of their 

focus is I would call it vigilant security efforts or operational efforts. Part of it is side efforts through countering violent extremism 

with education. Part of it is focused on education and socio-economic assistance. 

I think Morocco has a broad, focused counterterrorism policy and 

that is what they use to address this particular issue that you focused on which is foreign fighters going to Syria and coming back. 

I can give you more detail if you would like it, but that is the general approach that they use and we are very supportive of it. 

Mr. DEUTCH. I appreciate that. Ms. Romanowski, I was pleased 

to see USAID placing such great emphasis in the new country development cooperation strategy on youth unemployment which was 

mentioned earlier was around 30 percent. We know the major 

cause of the unrest in 2011 came from disaffected youth. Morocco 

recently announced ambitious plans to build up industry and create 

1⁄2 million new sustainable jobs by 2020 and to significantly increase the share of industry in GDP to 23 percent versus the 14 

percent today. 

23

How will USAID’s programs work in concert with this new initiative and are we going to have to realign some of our programming 

in light of that effort? 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. Thank you for the question, sir. I think we 

have already realigned our programs in a sense through the conversation, the dialogue we have had with the Government of Morocco when we built this new 5-year development strategy. And 

specifically in our economic program, the Employability, we are focusing on bringing universities and vocational school students and 

the private sector and the government to find ways that we can improve employment skills of these young people and then offer them 

actual centers where they can do that and also where the private 

sector can come together. So this conversation, this particular program that we are focusing on is doing exactly that. And it is not 

out of sync with, I think, supporting what their efforts are trying 

to do in attracting more investment. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Great. And finally, another focus of USAID is increasing civic participation, particularly for women and as part of 

a series of electoral reforms, Parliament now has a 66 quota for 

women. I would like for you to just talk about the trend lines that 

you are seeing among women in politics, how do we get there, how 

do meet those goals? 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. I think the trend lines in Moroccan politics for 

women are positive. In the last two visits or three visits I have 

been to Morocco, I have met many of the women parliamentarians 

and politicians and those who are active in politics, both at the 

local level and at the national level and both through our programs, the local governance program and also through our political 

party strengthening. We are making sure that not just women, but 

also young women and young men are part of reaching out and getting a more active participation. So in the many years I have been 

working in Morocco in this area, I see that there is a lot of interest 

in women to come into politics, which is always a good thing. 

Mr. DEUTCH. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Madame Chairman. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Deutch. Subcommittee Chair 

Chabot is recognized. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Madame Chair. Morocco has been supportive of the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. And recently an antiIsrael group, the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization, an 

organization that is working to end commerce and international 

ties between Israel and Morocco, published a list of people and institutions it accuses of collaboration with the Jewish state. How 

has King Mohammed and the Moroccan Government responded to 

this? Is this group a cause for concern that could negatively affect 

Moroccan-Israeli relations? And what steps can the administration 

take or has it taken to ensure that productive relations between 

Israel and Morocco continue? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Congressman Chabot. Morocco and 

Israel have a long history of positive relations. With regard to these 

developments that you have pointed to, our review is that these efforts have stalled and they are likely to—we think they will stay 

stalled. We believe that the values in Morocco of religious interfaith dialogue and religious tolerance will triumph. We know that 

there have been efforts to move a piece of legislation which is simiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:29 May 27, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\040914\87518 SHIRL
24

lar to what you are referring to. That effort has stalled. I believe 

that King Mohammed IV and the Government of Morocco have 

worked very hard to foster an atmosphere of religious tolerance 

and interfaith understanding that will prevent such measures from 

moving forward. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you. We know there are a lot of bad actors 

in the region and that Moroccan authorities have taken a proactive 

approach to countering the presence of extremists ideologies in the 

country. Could either of you comment on some of the successful elements of their counterterrorism programs? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. I will start, Congressman Chabot and Alina, if you 

would like to say something, you are welcome to. 

As we mentioned earlier in my testimony, the Moroccans have 

been very effective counterterrorism partners. The reason that they 

have been effective is that they developed a strategy that has several different elements to it, all of which are proven elements that 

are effective in countering terrorism. It is not just operational, although that is a piece of it. The Moroccan Government has also 

been very good at developing programs designed to counter balance 

extremism. It builds off of the Moroccan Government effort and the 

King’s effort to promote a tolerant, moderate brand of Islam in the 

kingdom. They have made efforts to train imams, religious leaders, 

from neighboring countries in ways that would encourage political 

moderation and religious moderation including a large number of 

imams from nearby Mali where there have been a lot of problems 

with these extremists. 

So the bottom line is that they have been very effective because 

they have used tools in the tool kit. In addition, they have been 

very active as regional international partners, cooperating on counterterrorism, both with our efforts on the Global Counterterrorism 

Forum and the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership and 

working with their neighbors, they posted a border conference for 

Libya and they have done other things on foreign fighters working 

with The Netherlands. So across a wide range of fronts, they have 

taken action on all of them. That is why they have been effective. 

Thank you, sir. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, sir. Ms. Romanowski. 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. I would point in addition to our broader workforce development program for young people, I would point to two 

other programs. One is our civic participation program that focuses 

on marginalized urban youth where we are working with the local 

governance structures and elected officials to better focus on being 

responsive to the concerns of young people, particularly 

marginalized youth in their areas. 

And then the second one which is very specific to two areas 

where I think we and the Government of Morocco have identified 

as being particularly regions of struggle and that is in the neighborhood of Tangier and Tetouan where we have focused a youth 

program that responds to those specific neighborhoods in trying to 

again bring out the voices and make the marginalized youth much 

more confident that they can be a participatory and a constructive 

voice even in their local neighborhoods. 

Mr. CHABOT. Thank you. In the time that I have remaining, I 

would like to turn briefly to trade. Some argue that the U.S.-MoVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:29 May 27, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\040914\87518 SHIRL
25

roccan trade agreement limits stronger economic integration between Morocco and other African nations. Would you agree with 

that? And do you believe that the U.S. and Morocco, that both 

countries have mutually benefitted from our trade partnership? 

And what does the future of U.S.-Moroccan trade relations look 

like, in 17 seconds. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Congressman. I think the free trade 

agreement has been a huge benefit for both sides. The United 

States has benefitted somewhat more in the initial years than the 

Moroccans, but both sides have seen huge increases in bilateral 

trade. I do not believe that it has been a hindrance to Moroccan 

trade with the region and I think they have a huge, bright future 

trading with us and with other partners. They are a hub for Europe, but also for Africa and we are working with them to strengthen the ways in which they can benefit from our free trade agreement. Thank you. 

Mr. CHABOT. Well done. You took 41 seconds, but well done. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Very good. Thank you. I am looking forward 

to reading your article Bloomsday in Baghdad, Reading Joys in 

Iraq. I am going to look that up. 

Ms. Frankel. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you, Madame Chair. And a number of my 

questions were answered. Thank you. First, I want to follow up on 

Mr. Deutch’s question about women. I understand that 3 years ago 

when Morocco adopted a new constitution it guaranteed gender 

equality. However, I am told that there is still not the equality the 

women would like. For example, I think the legal marriage age was 

raised from 15 to 18, but a judge can still grant and do grant permission for marriages at a much younger age and also that there 

are inheritance laws that still favor men. I don’t know, those are 

just a couple of examples. But I wanted to know what your opinion 

is on the status of women in Morocco. 

Thank you for sharing with us some of the programs that USAID 

and others are putting into effect, I guess to counter a possible 

Arab Spring and to minimize terrorism. I want to know whether 

there are any measures of effectiveness, any measures to see 

whether or not any of these programs are being effective. 

And last question is and this is also a followup, if you could say 

a little bit more as to the strategic importance of Morocco, explaining why we are putting these efforts into Morocco and their relationship to their neighboring African countries. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you. Thank you, Congresswoman. On the 

issue of reform in women’s position in society, I would say that it 

is a work in progress in Morocco with regard to reform for women’s 

rights and reform writ large. The Moroccans embarked on a major 

reform in 2003 and 2004 that benefitted women, the reform of their 

family code. It strengthened provisions relating to inheritance, divorce, child custody and similar type provisions. The 2011 constitution strengthened further some of those reforms and made constitutionally clear the equality between men and women. But some of 

the issues that you raise, child marriage, the low age for women 

that can be married remain a problem and I think the Moroccan 

Government is aware of it, but our sense is that they are reform 

oriented. They want to make improvements. They are continuing to 

26

do this and what we have seen in the last decade really is a steady 

move of progress. 

One of the human rights people who went out in 2012, noted an 

emerging culture of human rights in Morocco. For example, it is 

just another example of the type of reform that has been available 

to witness out there. 

Just a word on the strategic importance of Morocco in the region 

and Alina, I will let you say something if you would like to on the 

effectiveness of our programs. We have a strategic relationship 

with Morocco because it is such an important country in the region. 

Its geographic location is very important. It is involved in one of 

the major conflict areas, the Western Sahara, which is important 

and is creating some issues with Algeria. Morocco is a key country 

for us in helping to counter violent extremism. It is a critical partner in that and it is a critical trade partner. And it is a critical 

country as a voice of moderate Islam. For all those reasons, it is 

a very important strategic partner for the United States. Thank 

you, ma’am. 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. On the issue of measuring effectiveness and 

our monitoring evaluation, we do monitor and evaluate our programs and in fact, the opportunity to do a new 5-year country 

strategy afforded us that opportunity to go back and review the 

programs that we were working and where we felt they needed to 

really shift and keep up with what the changes that were going on 

in Morocco. That is what caused us really to redo the economic 

growth piece to focus on the workforce development. 

On our political and democracy and governance programs, we realized we needed to continue to strengthen those institutions that 

are part of that political process, like political parties, strengthen 

the local governance and work specifically again to continue to support the engagement of young people as well as women in politics 

and in the political process. We do continue and will continue to 

strongly monitor our program. 

Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you, Madame Chair. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Ms. Frankel. And I thank Mr. 

Weber for being nice enough to allow me jump him in turn because 

Mr. Grimm needs to get back to his subcommittee. 

So Mr. Grimm is recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you for visiting 

us. 

Mr. GRIMM. Thank you for having me, Chairman. Thank you, 

Mr. Weber. I appreciate the courtesy. Thank you to the witnesses. 

I would like to step back for a second and just expand a little 

bit. The chairwoman mentioned before about the report, obviously, 

in the omnibus in January Congress authorized the funds designated for Morocco. It could also be used for the Western Sahara 

Literacy Training Program and my understanding is that that report is due to Congress next week, Mr. Roebuck. As far you know, 

is it on schedule to be delivered next week? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Yes, sir. We are preparing the report and it will 

be delivered in compliance with the law. 

Mr. GRIMM. Is there any way you can thumbnail, obviously, I am 

not looking for details, but just give me some idea of what to expect, any highlights of what we can expect to see in that report? 

27

Mr. ROEBUCK. I think the report will describe our efforts to provide assistance to Morocco and it will outline some of the areas 

where we have provided that assistance addressing the particular 

areas that the legislation wants to see more information on. And 

it will make the point with regard to assistance for Morocco that 

would be used in the Western Sahara, the United States, our policy 

is that we should not take any actions that would be perceived as 

undermining our support for the U.N.-led mediation process and 

that is a pillar of our policy. And the report would include that 

point. 

Mr. GRIMM. Thank you. I appreciate that. Changing gears a little 

bit, as a member that represents New York City, financial services 

industry is an area of great interest to me, so I am very happy to 

see that Morocco is becoming a destination for many U.S. companies, not just as an export market, but also as a platform for exports into Africa, Europe, and broader Middle East. The new Casablanca finance city project is poised to become I think one of the 

central economic hubs for international companies that are looking 

or are already doing business throughout the African continent. 

Is there anything that you can tell us about how American companies are using Morocco both as an export market, but also as a 

gateway to the entire region? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Congressman. I would say just in 

short that the primary way that American companies so far are 

working in Morocco is to use the huge vehicle of the free trade 

agreement which has been in place and entered into force in 2006 

which gives U.S. companies an ability to invest in Morocco and to 

export there. It also, in turn, gives Morocco the opportunity to do 

the same here. I think that is the big benefit and that is where we 

are focusing. We have also recently signed when King Mohammed 

VI was here a trade facilitation agreement which will further shore 

up those efforts. Thank you. 

Mr. GRIMM. Ms. Romanowski, anything you would like to add? 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. In my most recent conversations with Moroccan businessman, and that was Friday night while I was there for 

the strategic dialogue, it was very clear that they were looking to 

some of our programs to be able to help them build a stronger network with American companies and they were very conscious of the 

fact that American companies were coming into Morocco. So I think 

that they were looking forward to it and I think the trend is very 

positive. 

Mr. GRIMM. Great. Thank you, again. I am going to yield back 

the rest of my time. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you very much. 

Mr. GRIMM. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thanks for joining us and thanks for your 

leadership with the Moroccan caucus. 

And now I am thrilled—we will recognize, Mr. Connolly, I am 

sorry——

Mr. CONNOLLY. No, no, thrilled, keep going. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. What a thrill it is to recognize Mr. Connolly 

of Virginia for his question and answer period. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Thank you, Madame Chairman. A welcome to 

the panel. Let me ask Mr. Roebuck what has been the impact of 

28

the repression and military crackdown in Egypt on both the Moroccan Government and to the extent we know it, public opinion of 

Morocco? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, sir. For the question. It is probably—

it might be a little difficult for me to assess that directly, but I will 

say based on my read of the region in general, people in the region 

have looked very closely at what has happened in Egypt. They have 

taken note. I think, for example, in Tunisia, some of the political 

parties watched very carefully what happened in Egypt. It probably 

made them more flexible maybe in the types of national dialogue 

talks that they were having and helped lead to a breakthrough 

with a new government and a new constitution. 

Morocco was in a little different situation. It didn’t have elections 

approaching in the fall when a lot of this was going on. I suspect 

the people in Morocco are concerned about what is going on in 

Egypt and they are looking at it very carefully. It may be causing 

them to reevaluate some of their conceptions about the Arab Spring 

and about democratic evolution and how fast it can happen and 

how some of the possible side effects of that type of turmoil. But 

a lot of those effects, at least in Morocco, are not as visible as they 

might be in some of the other countries in North Africa. I took a 

stab at answering your question. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. I think it behooves us to sort of look at that question because hopefully Morocco and the Moroccan Government and 

the Moroccan people look at that and go, that is not where we want 

to go for lots of different reasons with lots of different dynamics, 

but let me ask you about—where is the Polisario right now? What 

is their political standing? What is their appeal? What influence, 

if any, do they have in the western part of the country? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. The Polisario is a long-standing political organization that represents residents of Western Sahara who have advocated for independence. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. If you could speak a little bit closer to the 

microphone. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. You need to speak closer to the mic, Mr. Roebuck. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. It is hard to hear. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Sorry. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. And Madame Chairman if I could have that 1 

minute and 50 seconds back. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. The Polisario is the political organization that advocates for independence and for a referendum in Western Sahara. 

I think their influence is somewhat circumscribed in the last decade. I think——

Mr. CONNOLLY. Well, all right, Mr. Roebuck. I am old enough to 

remember when the Spanish gave it us. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Right. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. And I am old enough to remember when 

Polisario emerged as a political force of some sort. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Right. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. What we are trying to get at here is are they 

stronger? Are they weaker? Are their tentacles growing? Are they 

retreating? Are they actually kind of a fringe force at this point? 

Has the Moroccan Government been able to exercise sovereignty in 

29

a meaningful and real way that is recognized and respected by the 

people who live in the western part of the country or what? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Congressman. It is a conflict that is 

an area that remains sort of conflict. You know, there are two parties to it. The United States’ view is that those parties have to 

reach a mutually agreed upon solution. In answer to your question 

about are they weaker or are they stronger, I think probably over 

the past decade or so, they have gotten weaker, I am not sure politically. I am just speculating there. But they remain a key party 

in that conflict and our view is that the parties have to reach a solution and it can’t be one that is imposed. So weaker or not, they 

remain a party to the conflict and we support a process that would 

be a U.N.-lead negotiations process between them and the Moroccan Government. 

In terms of sovereignty, the territory of Western Sahara is considered by the U.N. as a non-self governing territory. Morocco exercises a non-official, sort of an administrator for its part of the territory, but it is not recognized by the U.N. as an official administering power for the Western Sahara. The key point for us is that 

this has got to be done through a negotiated process. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Just one more question if I may, Madame Chairman. Does anybody think Western Sahara could actually function 

as an independent sovereign state viably? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. It is a difficult question to answer. I think in 

terms of explaining our policy, we don’t sort of reach that level of 

inquiry. We prefer to focus on a process that lets the parties reach 

a solution, rather than looking at the situation and saying well, 

this side of the conflict doesn’t have a viable solution to it, if you 

see what I am saying. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Not really. I mean what is so hard about the 

United States Government deciding in our humble opinion Country 

X could never stand alone as a sovereign state viably? Why can’t 

we make that decision from time to time? We don’t have to. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Right. I suppose we could, but we haven’t reached 

that decision. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. We have not reached that decision. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. No. Our policy is not based on that type of conclusion. It is based on a process where the parties who are involved 

in a conflict have to reach a negotiated settlement. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Does the Moroccan Government agree with that 

position? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. You might want to ask Ambassador Bouhlal who 

is here. I think the Moroccans have put forward a proposal which 

is autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as their solution to that 

conflict. We believe that is a serious, realistic, and credible proposal. It is a potential approach to address the concerns of the people of Western Sahara and help them to live their lives in justice 

and dignity. So we think it is a potential approach. But in the end, 

we don’t believe you can impose it. 

Mr. CONNOLLY. Of course. Thank you. My time is up. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. Mr. Weber. Thank 

you for your patience. Thank you. 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you. Gosh, so many questions. Morocco receives substantial U.S. development aid in bilateral trade investVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:29 May 27, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_MENA\040914\87518 SHIRL
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ment and that has increased following a 2006 free trade agreement. Our trade partnership with Morocco has increased following 

2006 free trade agreement. How much? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Our trade has increased about 400 percent. 

Mr. WEBER. Would you put in that in dollars? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. I am not sure I have the dollar value, but it is a 

big increase on both sides. It has increased about 400 percent for 

the United States and between 150 and 200 percent on the Moroccan side. So it has been a big benefit for both, but a bigger benefit 

so far for U.S. exports and we are working with the Moroccans 

through our commercial law development program, through 

USAID, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation to even 

that out with some competitiveness efforts so that Moroccans can 

equally benefit from that. 

Mr. WEBER. I saw that Morocco recently concluded a 5-year $697.5 million MCC compact which focused on alleviating poverty 

and all these goals. Successful? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. I think it was very successful. Our assessment, it 

focused on sustainable tourism, sustainable fisheries and agriculture. It educated with basic literacy about 40,000 relatively poor 

people who were involved in those three fields. Eighty percent of 

those people were women. It helped build a tourist infrastructure 

in Fez Medina and also focused a little bit to a certain degree on 

financial services in a few other areas. 

Morocco was recently reselected for a second compact. I think 

many people were impressed with the way it engaged on this Millennium Challenge Corporation with its institutions and its sort of 

enthusiasm. And we are moving forward with shaping a second 

compact for Morocco. 

Mr. WEBER. I saw that and then my further reading it said that 

the bicameral legislature consisted of chamber of counselors who 

are indirectly elected and a chamber of reps who are directly elected. Explain that to me. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. The chamber that is directly elected, that is the 

parliamentary elections that took place in 2011. 

Mr. WEBER. Was it like the senators in our original constitution? 

They were elected by the states, similar? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. It is a similar election. They indirectly elected people, it is more of an appointment, basically. A lot of them are appointed. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay. And I noticed that I think one of my colleagues over on the other side alluded to the women’s, the improvement of women’s socio-economic rise was the 2004 revision of the 

Family Code that aimed to improve women’s socio-economic rights. 

Has that been successful? Can you give me a status update or Ms. 

Romanowski, is that your bailiwick? 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. Well, actually, I think it is everyone’s bailiwick. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay. 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. Of engaging Moroccans and supporting Moroccan women and their rights. And through our programs we ensure 

that all of the USAID programs make sure that women are included and supported and specifically when it comes to our democracy and governance, we are making sure that women who want 

31

to be, who get into politics have the kind of training and skills and 

have the advantage and also in our economic workforce development project. 

Mr. WEBER. So you all feel that it has been successful? 

Ms. ROMANOWSKI. Yes. There is a lot more work to do. That is 

true across the region. But I think Morocco actually stands out as 

making some——

Mr. WEBER. Let me move on. I am running out of time here. Further my reading, it says that in talking about the division between 

Western Sahara and Morocco, that there were some who were concerned that Western Sahara would actually become a training 

ground for terrorists and that they were concerned about those 

coming back from Iraq and even that—some of those Western Sahara potential terrorists had been trained in Western Europe? Is 

that right? Are you aware of that, Mr. Roebuck? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. Thank you, Congressman, for that question. I am 

not aware of that report. Our general assessment of the Western 

Sahara is as follows. It is a large space. We don’t think that it is 

good for a space that big to be an ungoverned space. That is why 

we support the U.N. being there with the MINURSO organization. 

But in terms of what you are talking about which is some sort of 

ties between terrorists and the people in the Western Sahara, to 

our knowledge, we are not aware of significant terrorist activity in 

the Western Sahara and we are not aware of links between, for example, the Polisario, and terrorist organizations like the ones you 

have cited. 

Mr. WEBER. And then one final question, if I may, Madame 

Chair. In talks about recent congressional actions, Morocco and the 

Polisario have advocates on both sides, directly appeal to Congress 

to support their positions on the Western Sahara. Many Members 

of Congress support Morocco’s position asserting sovereignty over 

the territory. So I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but how many 

Members of Congress support that position, do you know? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. I do not, sir. I don’t know exactly what the numbers would be. As I mentioned to Congressman Connolly, I mean 

our review is the issue of sovereignty is something that should be 

resolved through negotiations with the parties, but both sides have 

put forth proposals. We think that the Moroccan proposal is very 

serious, credible, and realistic. But in the end, we can’t impose it. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay, then forgive me one more question. Does the 

U.N. recognize Western Sahara as a what? 

Mr. ROEBUCK. It is a non-self governing territory. 

Mr. WEBER. A non-self governing territory. 

Mr. ROEBUCK. That is the official, legal definition the U.N. uses 

to describe it. 

Mr. WEBER. I think some might describe Congress as that. So 

Madame Chair, I yield back. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much to our witnesses. Thank 

you to the audience, especially to our members. And with that, the 

subcommittee is adjourned. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. 

[Whereupon, at 4:13 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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