Marrakesh – Abdul Kabir al-Minaoui
Justice is a key sector that plays a crucial role in improving the investment environment, promoting free enterprise, and protecting entrepreneurship, Moroccan King Mohammed VI has announced.
“As for the judiciary, it should play a crucial part in that process and take due account of the challenges created by current global economic conditions and the domestic economic environment,” asserted the Monarch during a message addressed to the participants of the Second International Justice Conference, in Marrakech.
Morocco’s Minister of State for Human Rights and Relations with the Parliament, Mustapha Ramid, relayed the King’s message at the opening ceremony of the event themed “Justice and Investment, Challenges, and Stakes.”
The message focused on the importance of using modern technology to develop paperless legal processes as part of the country’s vision to develop its business environment.
“Creating the right conditions for investment requires not only the overhaul of incentive legislation, but also the provision of legal and economic guarantees that ensure confidence in the judicial system and provide full security for investors,” noted King Mohammed.
The King emphasized the need to develop a strategic vision for the improvement of the business environment, noting that the core element of that vision should be the creation of conditions conducive to investment and the adoption of a modern, integrated legal system that makes businesses a driving force of economic and social development.
The King issued directives to expedite the new investment charter, reform its regional centers, and put an end to the obstacles that prevent it from fulfilling its role. He emphasized the need to simplify investment procedures, update business support programs, facilitate businesses’ access to finance, increase their productivity, and train their human resources.
The King indicated that after 25 years of establishing commercial courts in the country, it is about time to evaluate and develop this experience.
He also emphasized the importance of a digital transition in the judiciary by making the most of the modern technology for the dissemination of legal and judicial information.
“We should also promote the paperless processing of legal procedures and judicial regulations and adopt online justice methods,” King Mohammed said.
He explained that such methods contribute to swift and efficient judicial services and meet requirements for the settlement of business and financial disputes.
These goals should be provided for in the law, and all the stakeholders in the justice system should get involved in the sector’s digital transition, he cautioned.
The second International Justice Conference is an annual event organized by the Ministry of Justice and Supreme Council of Judicial Authority.
This year’s conference brings together around 800 ministers, judges, legal experts, economists, politicians, as well as figures from finance, business, and academia, representing 83 different countries.
The Conference provides a platform to share views and ideas and learn about international experiences, mainly about the modernization of the business legal system including the role of justice in promoting business climate, the use of information technology, and the stakes of regional groupings.
