Background
He was born on February 22, 1932, at Rommani, a village 100 miles south of Rabat.
He was born on February 22, 1932, at Rommani, a village 100 miles south of Rabat.
Educated at Rabat, then sent to France where he graduated in law at Toulouse University in 1957.
On his return from France he was appointed an attache to the cabinet at the Ministry of Finance and worked his way up to be Head of the Administrative Services and Controller of the Budget and Finances. He moved to diplomacy in 1961 when he was appointed minister-counsellor at the Moroccan Embassy in Paris. From April 1963 to July 1966 he was Director-General of Studies at the Finance and Economic Affairs Ministry and for part of the time also Director of the Cabinet.
In July 1966 he became Ambassador at Brussels and Permanent Delegate to the Maghreb Consultative Committee at Tunis. His next move took him to banking, first as auditor of the Bank of Morocco and then as state administrator of the National Bank for Economic Development. His administrative skill was recognised by Ahmed Osman, who gave him a place in his cabinet in November 1972.