Latest news with #Pécresse
Ya Biladi
23-04-2025
- Business
- Ya Biladi
Casablanca-Settat and Île-de-France renew regional cooperation for 2025–2027
The Casablanca-Settat and Île-de-France regions signed a new cooperation roadmap for 2025–2027 on Tuesday in Casablanca, renewing their decentralized partnership first established in 2016. The agreement, signed by Abdellatif Maâzouz and Valérie Pécresse, outlines joint priorities including economic development, mobility, innovation, environment, culture, and institutional support. «This roadmap continues a strong and ambitious partnership between our regions», said Pécresse, noting that Île-de-France has already supported 15 projects in Casablanca-Settat with €1 million in funding since 2016. The new phase aims to support regional transport—especially with the 2030 World Cup in mind—advance digital administration, promote culture, and foster connections between start-up ecosystems. Maâzouz highlighted the roadmap's alignment with Casablanca-Settat's 2022–2027 Regional Development Program, which focuses on innovation, sustainability, and inclusion. Pécresse is visiting Morocco from April 21 to 24 with a regional delegation, focusing on cooperation around innovation, education, and sustainable development.
Morocco World
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Morocco World
Morocco and Île-de-France Forge Bold Cultural Pact Around African Art
Rabat – Inside the halls of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat, Morocco and the Île-de-France Region took a decisive step toward reshaping the cultural map between Africa and Europe. On Monday, the two sides signed a declaration of intent that goes beyond formal partnership as it signals a shared vision to amplify contemporary African art on the global stage. The document, signed by Mehdi Qotbi, President of Morocco's National Foundation of Museums (FNM), and Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France Region, sets the tone for a collaboration anchored in action. At its core lies the upcoming Mediterranean exhibition, set to open the Cité de la Culture Africaine, Musée du Continent, a major cultural hub under development. But this partnership stretches far beyond a single event. Morocco and Île-de-France plan to exchange expertise on conservation practices, support acquisitions of African artworks, and design audience-centered educational programs for the new museum. A key component also includes the loan of works from the Île-de-France Regional Fund for Contemporary Art (Frac), bringing European collections into dialogue with African narratives. For Mehdi Qotbi, the moment carried deeper meaning. He described Morocco as a threshold to Africa and a corridor to Europe, geographically, culturally, and artistically. 'Art builds bridges where politics fall short,' he said. 'Welcoming Valérie Pécresse here is more than a diplomatic gesture, it's an encounter with the soul of Morocco and the promise of what Africa can bring to the world.' Pécresse echoed this spirit. With nearly a million residents of Moroccan descent in her region, she spoke of long-standing human and cultural ties that continue to shape Île-de-France's identity. Two of her vice-presidents are Franco-Moroccan, she noted, evidence, she said, of 'how deeply intertwined our stories already are.' The collaboration also places African artists at the center. Pécresse announced that the director of the Frac Île-de-France collection will serve as co-curator for the museum's opening exhibition. 'We bring our full support, our eyes, our networks, our commitment, to identifying and elevating the next generation of African artists,' she said. Before the signing, Pécresse and her delegation toured the museum's galleries. They paused before canvases by Moroccan contemporary artists and works by Tahar Ben Jelloun, the renowned Franco-Moroccan poet, novelist, and painter whose art speaks across boundaries. More than a symbolic gesture, the visit and agreement hint at a shift in the cultural axis. What begins in Rabat may soon echo from Paris to Dakar, from Casablanca to Marseille. The project isn't just about museums, it's about momentum. Tags: contemporary artMorocco ArtMorocco France ArtMorocco france ties
CBC
02-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Canada's steel industry is bracing for tariff pain. Aluminum? Not so much
Social Sharing In the on-again, off-again talk of tariffs on Canadian products being sold into the United States, Jérôme Pécresse has advice for his industry: "Be patient, be calm, be agile." Pécresse is chief executive of aluminum for Rio Tinto, which includes overseeing the company's Canadian smelter operations. Though most of those are in Quebec, where Pécresse is based, this past week he paid a visit to Kitimat, on B.C.'s North Coast, where a Rio Tinto aluminum smelter employs roughly 1,100 people in the community of just over 8,000. But, Pécresse said, no one in the community should be worried about losing their job. While Canadian steel producers say they have already felt the imapct of tariff threats with more pain to come, their aluminum-making counterparts remain relatively sanguine. "Obviously it's a concern," Pécresse said, speaking to CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk, saying ultimately markets prefer stability. But he also pointed out that since every other aluminum-producing country that sells to the United States is getting hit by the same tariffs, Canada's position remains strong. "If everybody's taxed the same, it's probably something that's not going to materially change our volumes... into the U.S. market." Pécresse's confidence is borne out in the numbers: Unlike steel, which has near-parity when it comes to Canada-U.S. trade, the United States' dependence on Canada for aluminum is stark: the U.S. imports more than three times as much aluminum from Canada as it exports. According to World Bank data, the U.S. is the world's largest aluminum importer, with the bulk coming from its northern neighbour. And U.S.-based buyers know it: Jean Simard, CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, says most contracts between Canada and the United States have a clause built in agreeing that the American company purchasing Canadian aluminum will pay whatever tariffs are put in place. In fact, when Trump imposed aluminum tariffs during his first term, Canadian companies saw their value spike, prompting one person in the industry to describe it as the president writing "a cheque for $600 million to Canadian aluminum producers," as roughly half a billion in value flowed northward. Further, the U.S. doesn't have much in the way of options for domestic production: it's estimated that just one Canadian smelter comes close to equalling the entire output of the U.S. industry. WATCH | How aluminum tariffs could impact Canada's economy: How tariffs on Quebec's massive aluminum exports could have ripple effects across the economy 30 days ago Duration 2:57 While the province's second largest industry has a built-in firewall against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S., the complexity of the aluminum-related trade relationship between Quebec and the U.S. means effects will still be felt. One reason for that is the cost of electricity in the United States compared to Canada, a key component in running a smelter. Quebec and B.C. have access to cheap hydropower to run their plants, U.S. producers do not. Mario Simard and Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc Québécois MPs for the Jonquière and Lac-Saint-Jean ridings which have thousands of aluminum jobs, told Radio-Canada that the Canadian hydropower advantage can't easily be replicated. "A dam can't be folded," Simard said in a French-language interview. "It can't be put in a suitcase, moved south of the border." Brunelle-Duceppe said it was tough to understand what Trump hoped to gain for the U.S.-based industry by tariffing Canadian aluminum, given the realities of the industry. "Aluminum smelters closed in the United States because, precisely, it costs too much energy," he said in French. That sentiment has been echoed by U.S. aluminum producers, including Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, which also operates in Canada. CEO Bill Oplinger was quoted by Reuters warning a mining conference that he expects tariffs to cost the U.S. aluminum industry roughly 20,000 jobs. "It's bad for American workers," Oplinger is reported as saying, adding that he's lobbied for an exception for Canadian aluminum. He said without cheaper electricity in the United States, there's no way for that country's aluminum industry to compete with Canada's, even with the addition of tariffs. And in Kitimat, Pécresse said Rio Tinto has the added bonus of easy access to Asian markets through the Port of Prince Rupert. None of this means there won't be any impact on Canadians as a result of aluminum tariffs. Like steel, aluminum is passed back and forth across the border during the production of products like cars or construction materials. As a result, tariffs will increase the product end-price for consumers. And companies that sell or buy products with aluminum will also be hit when making cross-border sales — such as beer cans and lids that are made in the U.S. using Canadian aluminum and then imported back across the border by B.C. beer makers. But for those involved in the production of aluminum itself, industry leaders say, it should be business as usual.
