A partnership agreement was signed on March 7, 2024 in Tangier between the Maghreb Arab Press Agency (MAP) and the King Fahd School of Translation (KFST) to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of media and translation.
Initiated by MAP Director-General Fouad Arif and the Director of King Fahd School of Translation, Mohamed Kharchich, in the presence of Abdelmalek Essaâdi University President Bouchta El Moumni, this agreement aims to leverage the partnership with MAP, as a national news institution, to contribute to the training of KFST students and enable the School to enhance its connection to the professional environment by establishing lasting cooperation with the Agency.
Under this agreement, valid for a renewable period of 3 years and aligned with the implementation of the National Plan for Accelerating the Transformation of the KFST Ecosystem (PACTE ESRFT 2030), both parties commit to sharing their knowledge and capabilities to the extent possible. This includes encouraging exchange visits, organizing conferences and debates, and providing logistical support and technical equipment to enrich the knowledge of students and journalists.
The two parties also commit to co-organizing meetings, symposia, conferences, debates, and workshops related to the fields of translation, communication, and intercultural exchange. They will collaborate on translating works that highlight Morocco, its history, culture, development, and national cause, as well as publications related to the field of translation.
In this regard, MAP will provide training internships for KFST students and grant two access codes to the Agency’s services for pedagogical needs.
KFST, on the other hand, pledges to assist MAP in establishing continuous training programs for its personnel upon request, involve Agency staff in organizing workshops on journalistic translation, and ensure that its student interns strictly adhere to the internal procedures and rules of the Agency.
Speaking on this occasion, Arif emphasized that this agreement “lays the groundwork for fruitful cooperation and a unique partnership to strengthen knowledge and media exchanges between the two institutions.” He added, “If journalistic work and translation are two sides of an invaluable coin, strengthening cooperation between the two institutions has become, today more than ever, a very important endeavor that is in everyone’s interest to embody, activate, and promote through innovative initiatives that meet the needs of both institutions, especially in terms of enhancing media performance and translation and refining the talents of the graduates.”
“The agreement we sign today will inevitably represent an opportunity, even more a strategy for the transfer and exchange of expertise and experiences, as well as providing the best opportunities to encourage young enthusiasts in the fields of translation and media to showcase their potential and abilities and to realize their dreams of succeeding in their professional careers,” he noted.
In this context, the Director-General of MAP expressed confidence that “this partnership will create promising educational and professional opportunities for students and support the school’s efforts to train future generations of skills capable of sustaining Morocco’s position in the fields of translation, languages, and media, and elevate it to broader horizons.”
Arif reiterated MAP’s commitment to ensuring “that this partnership marks the beginning of practical and sustainable cooperation between the two institutions, in order to promote the role of Moroccan media and serve the supreme interests of the Kingdom, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.”
For his part, Kharchich emphasized “the strategic dimension of this partnership agreement with a secular and pioneering national institution in the field of media, providing services in five languages, which has confirmed and consolidated its strong presence nationally and internationally over the years.” He stressed that the signing of this agreement crowns the partnership and cooperation relations the two institutions have maintained for decades.
He pointed out that this exemplary partnership will open up broad horizons for fruitful cooperation between the two institutions, particularly in exchanging experiences in areas of common interest, allowing students to benefit from training internships, and establishing continuous training programs for MAP personnel, in addition to contributing to journalistic translation.
The KFST director also noted that this agreement, along with other agreements concluded with national and international institutions, embodies the academic institution’s commitment to the new dynamic initiated by the PACTE ESRFT 2030, to improve and enrich the training offerings.
In turn, El Moumni indicated that “this agreement will contribute to consolidating the foundations of the partnership between the two institutions, with the aim of strengthening the academic training offering and improving journalistic work.” He emphasized that this agreement aligns with the university’s strategic orientations, in line with the Royal directives calling for the formation of a qualified and competent human capital capable of integrating into the job market.
He stated that the development of Abdelmalek Essaâdi University’s training offerings, based in a region that constitutes the Kingdom’s second economic hub, can only succeed by opening up to the university’s social and economic environment through agreements with economic actors and elected bodies. He affirmed that the university is called upon to accompany the rapid evolution of the job market and meet the evolving requirements of constantly changing businesses.
