VZCZCXYZ0008
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0159/01 0301652
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301652Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2621
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3681
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 8584
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA PRIORITY 1140
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS RABAT 000159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/H AND NEA/MAG 
HHS PLEASE PASS TO NIH JUDY LEVIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON TBIO MO
SUBJECT: NIH SIGNS LETTER OF INTENT WITH MOROCCO 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director 
Elias Zerhouni visited Morocco January 23-24 to meet GOM 
health authorities and explore opportunities for U.S.-Morocco 
cooperation in the field of public health and biomedical 
research.  During his Jan. 23 meeting with the Minister of 
Health, Director Zerhouni signed a Letter of Intent with the 
Moroccan National Institute of Hygiene, outlining the two 
agencies' will to expand cooperative activities in the areas 
of infectious disease and cancer.  Zerhouni also met with the 
Prime Minister, with representatives of the National Oncology 
Institute, the Pharmaceutical Industry Association and the 
Pasteur Institute.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  During a breakfast meeting hosted by the Ambassador, NIH 
Director Zerhouni outlined his intention to expand the range 
of cooperative activities between NIH scientists and research 
agencies in the Maghreb.  Zerhouni said NIH's areas of focus 
in Morocco were newborn screening and infectious disease. 
Zerhouni praised Morocco's "tremendous human capital" in the 
medical research field, singling out Dr. Rajae El Aouad, 
Director of Morocco's National Institute of Hygiene, whom 
Zerhouni had met during El Aouad's visit to NIH in 2004. 
Zerhouni, however, lamented the relative void of medical 
research collaboration between the United States and the 
Maghreb, noting that of 2,700 foreign scientists currently 
working at NIH, only five are Moroccan, compared with nearly 
500 Chinese. 
 
¶3.  Director Zerhouni then met with Minister of Health 
Mohammed Cheikh Biadillah to explore ways in which Moroccan 
scientists and health professionals might take part in 
NIH-supported research.  During that meeting, Zerhouni signed 
a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Morocco's National Institute of 
Hygiene, expressing both agencies' desire to increase 
collaboration and contacts.  The LOI is a non-binding 
expression of intent to strengthen institutional ties in the 
areas of infectious disease, maternal and child health, 
medical informatics, cancer, and capacity building in vaccine 
production.  Mechanisms for collaboration may include joint 
research projects, organization of scientific colloquia, and 
training opportunities for researchers. 
 
¶4.  Minister Biadillah said he hoped the recently-implemented 
U.S.-Morocco FTA will facilitate greater cooperation in the 
biomedical field.  Biadillah said the agreement's 
intellectual property protections and investment guarantees, 
along with Morocco's new draft pharmaceutical code, will spur 
greater U.S. investment in the pharmaceutical sector.  The 
minister noted that Morocco faces the particular difficulty 
of suffering from both "first world" diseases like cancer and 
heart disease, as well as "third world" ailments like 
communicable diseases resulting from poverty. 
 
¶5.  Biadillah outlined some of the areas he feels are ripe 
for future collaboration, such as research on communicable 
diseases like leishmaniasis, and on certain types of cancer 
that are particularly prevalent in the region.  He also noted 
the opportunity NIH activities present for region-wide 
cooperation with Algeria and Tunisia.  Director Zerhouni 
agreed with the need for regional programs, citing the 
transnational nature of the issues and highlighting NIH's 
desire to develop a "practical and specific" program for the 
region.  Zerhouni noted that an NIH representative will visit 
Morocco at the end of February to help create a cancer 
registry in Morocco, and to explore the possibility of 
setting up a birth defect registry in the future. 
 
¶6.  During visits to the National Oncology Institute and the 
Pharmaceutical Industry Association, the NIH delegation 
explored with their Moroccan counterparts the possibility of 
organizing in Morocco a regional conference on newborn 
screening in the fall of 2006. 
 
¶7.  In a meeting with Prime Minister Driss Jettou, Director 
Zerhouni and Ambassador detailed the content of the LOI and 
NIH's vision for collaboration with Moroccan scientists.  The 
Prime Minister expressed his deep satisfaction with the 
signing of the LOI and his appreciation for Zerhouni's visit. 
 He suggested that both sides should capitalize on the 
momentum generated by the visit to "pass quickly from the 
theory to the practice," lest the LOI become "just another 
signed accord" with little follow-through. 
 
¶8.  Zerhouni agreed and said Morocco is an ideal partner for 
NIH, due to the country's openness to international 
collaboration and the high quality of human resources at 
Morocco's National Institute of Hygiene.  He noted that NIH 
would aspire to maintain a regional component to its 
activities, linking Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian 
scientists through NIH activities.  PM Jettou approved of 
this focus and thanked Zerhouni and the United States for 
"helping us develop a more normal relationship with our 
Algerian neighbor." 
 
¶9.  Director Zerhouni did not have an opportunity to clear 
this cable. 
****************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
****************************************** 
 
Riley