Thrifty Morocco car rental has expanded and now covers the main locations of Casablanca, considered the heart of this North African market, with locations in Anfa Lala Yacout Street in downtown Casablanca and at Tour Habous, as well as in Mohamed V International Airport.

These outlets provide superior car rental services to corporate clients and a growing number of leisure travelers to Morocco, from both the Middle East region and Europe.

Since 2006, Morocco has experienced a 13% increase in the number of tourists visiting the country, with estimates reaching 7.45 million visiting in 2008.

Morocco’s government has outlined its goal to increase tourism numbers to 10 million by 2010.

“We are seeing a marked increase in the demand for rental cars in the region as tourism grows, and our partnership with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group ideally addresses this need, offering a full, comprehensive range of car rental services and a complete fleet of vehicles to meet the diverse demand of our customers in Morocco,” comments Mr. Abdel Hamid HDOUD, Managing Director and founder of Connection Car.

Connection Car will be offering only the best in customer service, with its young fleet and well trained staff.

“Our affiliation with Connection Car is set to further expand Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group’s existing network within the MENA region. Already a well-established name in the automotive industry in Morocco, Connection Cars’ understanding of the local market and reputation are invaluable assets as we venture into this new and growing market,” added Sam Eltibi, executive director, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, MENA and Asia Pacific.

Morocco’s capital Rabat is set to host parliamentarians from across Africa from May 22 to 24 to discuss the challenges of migration facing the continent, the official Moroccan News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The African Parliamentary Conference on the theme of “Africa and migration: the challenges, problems and solutions” will be held in Rabat, the Moroccan parliament announced in a statement published Monday.

This meeting is initiated by the Moroccan parliament, in accordance with the decisions of the Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Union, taken at its 51st session in Addis Ababa in November 2007.

The meeting will complement the findings and recommendations of the Euro-African ministerial conference on migration and development, which was held in Morocco in July 2006.

Attended by immigration experts from Africa and Europe, the meeting saw the publication of the Rabat Declaration under which participating countries had expressed their commitment to craft unambiguous policies and to working collectively for the management of migration flows with regard to issues such as security and development.

Organized with the support of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the conference is also aimed at deepening the knowledge of laws on international migration, according to the statement.

“During the meeting, participants will present their experiences relating to the protection of rights of immigrants, exchange views on regional and international migration and appropriate means to manage and investigate the correlation between migration and development,” said the statement.

The meeting, which will be attended by representatives of parliaments of various African countries, will be marked by presentations by a host of experts from international organizations working in the field of migration, including IOM and the International Labour Organization (ILO), according to the statement.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as well as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are the other organizations expected to make presentations to the meeting.

Morocco’s second-biggest private bank, BMCE BMCE.CS, said on Monday it had won a 70 million euro ($108 million) loan from International Finance Corp, the World Bank’s financial arm for private sector.

“This (loan) will help financing the bank’s expansion overseas, namely in the Sub-Sahara African region,” BMCE said in a statement.

The bank gave no details on the loan conditions but it said the money will help finance BMCE’s acquisition of a 35-percent stake in Mali-based Bank of Africa.

In March, BMCE reported its 2007 net profit rose 55 percent mainly due to assets sales and growth in client deposits and loans that enlarged its market share.

BMCE has said it would step up an expansion in Africa through Bank of Africa as it pushes for more business abroad.

It plans to take control of Bank of Africa’s network and expand the group’s presence to include “the 55 countries of the African continent” within 10 years.

The 13th edition of the Chella Jazz Festival will be organised in the historic and cultural site of Chellah in Rabat on June 12-16 under the theme: “Morocco-Europe, Jazz in fusion with different styles of music.”

According to organizers, the festival proposes a real jazz journey, starting from the oriental to the electric, passing through the revisited world music and the classical jazz, before ending with the most beautiful jazz fusion in the world.

In addition to Moroccan artists, this edition will witness the participation of artists from many countries such as Holland, Austria and Belgium.

Organised every year since 1996, the festival is initiated by the Delegation of the European Commission in Rabat, the ambassadors of cultural centres of the EU member countries and Wallonie-Brussels Delegation, in partnership with the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Rabat local authorities.

King Mohammed VI inaugurated, on Friday in Meknès (140km east of Rabat), a cultural and administrative complex affiliated to the ministry of Habous (Endowments) and Islamic Affairs, at a global cost of some USD 13Mn.

Built on 3ha, the facility is composed of a resource center and cultural activities hall, including libraries of Islamic sciences, manuscripts and rare books, economic and social sciences, literature and general culture as well as periodical magazines.

The center also includes a specialized library, a multimedia library for youth, a workshop for children, along with information and conference rooms.

Morocco has recently started recruiting and training mourchidat, female Muslim clerics whose role is to help usher in a more moderate Islam. Sally Williams talks to some of the students and watches the mourchidat at work in the community

Just inside Rabat’s walled medina - with its market stalls selling fake Gucci sunglasses and bzeghir, traditional Moroccan pancakes - stands the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, an octagonal building resplendent with bougainvillaea and a fountain. This is the seminary where a revolution is under way. Two hundred student imams sit in long rows in disciplined silence as their tutor, Hussein Ait Said, addresses them. All the students are wearing robes and have a copy of the Koran on their desk, but 50 of them also have handbags and, more surprising still, a pair of white slingbacks is just visible in the fifth row. These are the women who are training to be mourchidat - female priests - the second intake at the seminary.

The mourchidat (meaning ‘female guide’) first made news in April 2006 when the Moroccan government announced with great fanfare that the first 50 had graduated. Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reform begun by King Mohammed VI in 2004. ‘This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,’ Muhammad Mahfudh, the centre’s director, says. The mourchidat will help women with religious questions, with their education and give support in schools and prisons. The long-term hope is that by working face-to-face with the community, they will help foster a more moderate Islam.

At the western edge of the Arab and Muslim world, with only six miles of sea separating it from Europe, Morocco is a Muslim country - Islam is the state religion - led by a king, not an imam. It was an early ally in America’s ‘war on terror’ and the only Arab country to hold a memorial service for the victims of September 11, 2001. But on May 16, 2003, suicide bombers killed 45 people in Casablanca, heralding a resurgence of radical Islamic fundamentalism. In Europe 80 per cent of those arrested since 2003 on terrorism charges have been Moroccans. The conservative Istiqlal party may have won the parliamentary elections last September, but the election itself, with its record low turnout of only 37 per cent, was a clear rejection of the political system, which Islamic fundamentalists have exploited in order to recruit militants.

In the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, the female student priests are taking a morning break. More than 400 women applied for the 50 places. The prerequisites are an exam, an interview and a BA. Candidates are also required to have a life grounded in the Koran, by which is meant memorizing it, and an understanding of tajwid, the art of Koranic recital. Men have to know the entire text by heart; women, half of it. Once accepted on the course, students are given a grant of 4,000 dirhams (£360) a month. To rent a room in a shared house, as many students do, costs about a quarter of that. The youngest woman on the course is 22 - ‘baby mourchidat!’ - the oldest nearly 40. Lessons include Islamic studies, psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management, plus three hours of homework a day.

‘We want to help people know the Koran and to promote flexibility, and there are a lot of problems in our society - social, political, all,’ one student, Halima Kachkach, 29, explains. With her is Zakia Haddad, who has a BA in English from the University of Fez, where her family live. Her father is a retired shopkeeper, her mother a housewife, and she is one of six children. After university she worked as an administrative assistant on a news-paper, taught in a school and studied in a Koranic school, where it took her five and a half years to learn the Koran by heart. For her interview at the Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania, she was asked to recite passages aloud, with examiners checking for pronunciation, elongation, word stress and intonation. All students live outside the seminary, so Haddad now lodges with her sister in Rabat.

Morocco will announce their new coach next Thursday, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation said on Saturday, but gave no hint as to his identity.

The post has been vacant since Frenchman Henri Michel was fired shortly after a disappointing African Nations Cup finals tournament in Ghana.

In March, Morocco named a shortlist of candidates, all drawn from within the country, and set and a date to announce the new coach but then postponed it without any explanation.

Morocco beat Belgium 4-1 away in a friendly last month with Fathi Jamal standing in as caretaker coach.

The new coach will have just weeks to prepare his side for the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Morocco host Ethiopia on May 31 in their first group match and play Mauritania and Rwanda in June in other group matches. (Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Johannesburg; Editing by Clare Fallon)

A painting by Winston Churchill of a Moroccan sunset, a view he loved so much that he invited President Franklin D. Roosevelt has sold for $350,000.

Sunset Over the Atlas Mountains, a vibrant landscape painted in 1935 from Churchill’s balcony at the Mamounia Hotel in Marrakesh, had been expected to bring at least $600,000 at the Bonhams New York auction house on Wednesday. The company’s Web site announced the sale but didn’t say who bought the painting.

Morocco is pretty much disease free and doesn’t differ that much from all the southern Europe countries. Pharmacies and private clinics are well spread around the country, unless you travel to off the beaten tracks where small villages in the middle of the Atlas Mountains will for sure not help you out in terms of medical assistance. Moroccans though, will try their best to help you out anyway they can, either for emergency accommodation, food and transportation to the nearest medical treatment. Travelers planning to drive in the mountains and other remote areas may wish to carry a medical kit and a Moroccan phone card for emergencies. Moroccan phone cards can be easily bought in any “Teleboutique” and, if your cellphone is block to a specific phone company, its quite simple and cheap (around 4 Euros or 7 Euros) to unblock in Morocco. Just ask about it in any Internet Café or Teleboutique.

Two basic health concerns start at home, and prevention works fine: check out your dentist, get a pair of spare of contact lenses. Remember Morocco has dust, so contact lenses users should be advise to take care during wind season in the southern part of the country.

Travel Medical Kit

If you’re the type of person that always travels with a small medical purse, bring some Aspirins® that easily work as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, to reduce fever and as an anti-inflammatory medication; bring some diarrhea pills, a small 50ml alcohol bottle and cotton; bandages; Ben-u-ron® which is a Paracetamol and works as a painkiller. It can also lower a raised temperature and fever. As pain and fever can occur while traveling, no traveler should be without some paracetamol, particularly on a travel to Africa; also bring a good insect repellent specially handy and useful.

In all small towns in Morocco, pharmacies with all basic medical items are available, but, better if you consider to being some basic medical stuff. Also bring your own condoms and contraception pills as they might not be the same as you’re used back home.

Here’s a small list of things you should think off, this not only applies to Morocco, but, applies to every country in Africa, South America and Asia: Prevent illness by Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water; Drink only water from cans or boiled water; Avoid using ice or drinking untreated water; Wash and/or peel all raw vegetables and fruits before eating.; Use uncontaminated water to wash all food that is to be eaten raw.; Avoid eating uncooked foods -; Remember: boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it; Avoid swimming in fresh water; Traffic accidents are the most common cause of injuries so be careful; Avoid traveling at night and use safety belts when available; To prevent fungal and parasitic infections, keep feet clean and dry, and do not go barefoot; Use latex condoms for protection against sexually transmitted diseases; Malaria prophylaxis is not recommended as risk is minimal.

Other items are also handy in case you consider traveling with your own medical kit: Antibiotics for more remote and extreme travelers; antidiarrheal drugs such as Loperamide; paracetamol or aspirin such as Tylenol; anti-inflamatory drugs such as Ibuprofen; antihistamines for hay fever and allergic reactions; antibacterial ointment such as Bactroban; bandages, gauze and adhesive.

Women travelers

Women travelers should remember that exhaustion and emotional stress caused by traveling and jet lag can cause and upset your menstrual activity. Also, if using oral contraceptives, mind that some antibiotics, diarrhea and vomiting can stop the pill effect from working, so a small pack of safety condoms is advised.

Vaccination recommendation

• Hepatitis A or Immune Globulin
• Hepatitis B or Immune Globulin
• Typhoid fever - if staying in remote areas
• Rabies - if risk for contact with animals
• A booster for tetanus/diphtheria - if not covered which indicates not vaccinated within the last 10 years.

Travel Insurance Morocco

World Nomads is specially designed for independent travelers. This travel insurance is focused on what is really important: medical & emergency evacuation, although it also covers other areas such as your baggage, cancellation costs, dental and liability depending on your country of residence.

Remember that in Morocco, doctors expect payment in cash, so remember to bring receipts back home. Any major problem you should contact your embassy.

This is a good insurance and can be easily bought in World Nomads website. One month travel insurance should cost around 50 Euros for most Euro zone countries, around £50 for UK citizens or about $90 US dollars. Also there’s the choice of cover high-value items such as iPods, mobile phone, backpack, digital cameras, etc.

Travel Insurance Morocco | www.worldnomads.com

This page gives information about embassies and consulates in Morocco from the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Norway, Denmark, Greece, France and Czech Republic.

Also vital before you travel, is to really know what your embassy can and can’t do to help you if you get into trouble. You should take in consideration that you will bound by Moroccan laws in case you do something wrong.

U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

2 Avenue de Mohamed El Fassi, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-76-22-65
Web Site: U.S. Embassy Morocco | Rabat.usembassy.gov
Email: ircrabat@usembassy.ma
Office Hours: Monday - Friday from 8:00 - 17:30

American Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco

8, Boulevard Moulay Youssef
Casablanca 20000, Morocco
Fax: +212-2-220-4127
Web Site: American Consulate Morocco | Casablanca.usconsulate.gov
Email: acscasablanca@state.gov

British Embassy in Morocco

United Kingdom Embassy in Rabat, Morocco
28 avenue S.A.R. Sidi Mohammed, Souissi, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-3763-3333
Website: British Embassy Morocco | www.britishembassy.gov.uk
Email: generalenquiries.rabat@fco.gov.uk
The Embassy is open to the public from 0800 am to 1615 p.m., from Monday to Thursday, and from 0800 am to 1300 p.m. on Friday. Visa enquiries are dealt with from 0800 am to 1200.
The Embassy operates on reduced hours during Ramadan (Muslim fasting month): From 0800 am to 1400 p.m., from Monday to Thursday, and from 0800 am to 1300 p.m. on Friday.

Embassy of Netherlands in Rabat, Morocco

40 Rue de Tunis, Quartier Tour Hassan, Rabat, Morocco
Postal Address: B.P. 329, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-219600
Fax: +212-37-219665
Web Site: Embassy of Netherlands | www.ambassadepaysbasrabat.org
Email: nlgovrab@mtds.com

Dutch Consulate in Casablanca, Morocco

26 Rue Nationale, 1e etage, Casablanca 20000, Morocco
Phone: +212-22-221820/ 225843/ 298487
Fax: +212-22-296576
Email: nlgovcas@menara.ma
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 08:00-12:00

Canadian Embassy in Rabat

Canadian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco
13, bis rue Jaafa-as-Sadik, Agdal Rabat, Morocco
Phone: (011 212) 37 68 74 00
Fax: (011 212) 37 68 74 30
Web Site: Canadian Embassy Morocco | www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Email: rabat@dfait-maeci.gc.ca, rabat.immigration@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Office Hours: Monday to Thursday: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Royal Norwegian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

9, rue de Khenifra, BP 757 Rabat Agdal 10006, Morocco
Phone: +212-37764084
Fax: +212-37764088
Web Site: Norwegian Embassy Morocco | www.norvege.ma
Email: emb.rabat@mfa.no

Swedish Embassy in Rabat

Embassy of Sweden in Rabat, Morocco
59, Avenue John Kennedy, Rabat-Souissi, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-63 32 10
Fax: +212-37-75 80 48
Web Site: Sweden Embassy Morocco | www.swedenabroad.com/rabat
Email: ambassaden.rabat@foreign.ministry.se
Office Hours: Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. to 12 noon Visa (applications and processing): Monday-Thursday 09.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. Phone hours 8.30 to 10 a.m.

Italian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

Embassy of Italy in Rabat, Morocco
2, Zankat Idriss Al Ahzar, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-706597
Fax: +212-37-706882
Email: ambraba@iam.net.ma

Portuguese Embassy in Morocco

Embassy of Portugal in Rabat, Morocco
5, Rue Thami Lamdouar, Souissi, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37756-446 / 7 / 8 / +212-37756-449 / 50
Fax: +212-37756-445
E-mail: embport_rabat@hotmail.com

German Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

Embassy of Germany in Rabat, Morocco
7 Rue Madnime, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-709-662
Fax: +212-37-653-649
Web Site: German Embassy Rabat | www.amballemagne-rabat.ma/

Spanish Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

Embassy of Spain in Rabat, Morocco
3-5 Rue Madnime, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-268080
Fax: +212-37-707387

Finnish Embassy in Rabat

Embassy of Finland in Rabat, Morocco
145 rue Soufiane Ben Wahb, OLM Souissi Rabat, Morocco
Postal address: B.P. 590, Rabat Chellah, 10002 Rabat, Moroccot
Phone: +212-3-765 8775 or +212-3-765 8788 visa inquiries
Fax: +212-3-765 8904
Email: sanomat.rab@formin.fi

French Embassy Rabat

Embassy of France in Rabat, Morocco
3, rue Sahnoun - Agdal, Rabat,Morocco
Postal address: B.P. 602 - Rabat - Chellah, Morocco
Phone: 037 68.97.00
Fax: 037.68.97.01
Web Site: French Embassy Rabat | www.ambafrance-ma.org/

Greek Embassy Rabat

Embassy of Greece in Rabat, Morocco
5 Km Route des Zaers, Villa Chems, Souissi, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-37-638964 or 638975.
Fax: 638990
Email: ambagrec@iam.net.ma

Czech Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

Embassy of the Czech Republic in Morocco
4,5 km Route des Zaers
Zankat Ait Melloul, Villa Merzaa, Rabat-Souissi, Morocco
Postal address: B.P. 410, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +21237-755421
Fax: +21237-754393
Web Site: Czech Embassy in Rabat | www.mzv.cz/rabat
Office Hours: Monday - Friday: 07.45 - 16.15 Monday and Thursday: 09.00 - 11.30 (Public)

Danish Consulate in Casablanca

Royal Danish Consulate General in Morocco
50, Avenue Pasteur, Casablanca
Phone: +212 2243 7620
Fax: +212 2224 8756
Email: gkdk-casa@imtc.co.ma

Romanian Embassy in Rabat, Morocco

Embassy of Romania in Rabat, Morocco
10 Rue d’Ouezzan, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212-7-724694 or 738611
Fax: +212-7700196
Email: amb.roumanie@menara.ma