By Stephen Asante
Accra, May 22, GNA – The Moroccan News Agency (MAP) has appointed Mr. Fouad Arif, a former international editor-in-chief, as its new Director-General.
He replaces Khalil Hachimi Idrissi, a veteran journalist, who served in that position from 2011 until his death in April 2023.
MAP, in a letter copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Accra, said Arif’s appointment was announced during a Council of Ministers meeting, chaired by King Mohammed VI, in Rabat.
The new Director-General joined the Agency in 1994, and has served in various positions, including head of the Agency’s office in Paris, then in Washington as Director of the North America pole.
He was elected in 2018 as Secretary-General of the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, D.C., one of the most prestigious press organisations in the world, founded in 1908.
He is also the first Arab, African and one of the few non-Americans to be elected to the NPC’s Executive Board.
He is expected to bring his vast experience to bear for the accelerated growth of the Moroccan News Agency, which currently holds the presidency of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA).
MAP is currently playing a significant role in the mobilisation of press agencies in Africa to champion the cause for the continent’s sustainable development.
Born in 1968, Arif is a father of two, and a graduate of the Fahd Ibn Abdelaziz School of Translation in Tangier.
He has been an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates over the last three years.
GNA