February 1999

Rachid Filali, the Minister of the Moroccan Department for Privatising Public Sector Services invited Mike O'Brien of Healthcare Group Limited and Helen Dell of the UK Treasury Taskforce for Private Finance to attend and make presentations at a Seminar in Rabat on 30 January 1999.

The Seminar was arranged to examine the options for involving private finance solutions in the provision of health and the other social services in Morocco. The Seminar was presided over by the Secretary General of the Parti de L'Istiqlal, and each session was chaired by the relevant Moroccan Government Minister.

Helen Dell spoke on the background, progress and experience of PFI in the UK. She explained the underlying principles of PFI and demonstrated the success of PFI in the UK, which has already resulted in signed PFI projects with a total capital value of £11.8bn (US$19.2bn).

Mike O'Brien spoke on the Healthcare Group experience of bidding and being successfully selected for health PFI projects in the UK. He explained some of the problems that were experienced in the early stages of UK PFI, and the solutions that had been found. He offered to assist in the development of private finance solutions in Morocco.