Rabat - Officials from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation attended a meeting with the regional head of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region and representatives from the Islamic Development Bank on Tuesday in order to discuss the Microsoft founder's first visit to the country in coming months.

Rabat – Officials from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation attended a meeting with the regional head of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region and representatives from the Islamic Development Bank on Tuesday in order to discuss the Microsoft founder’s first visit to the country in coming months.

Gates’ coming trip comes after a two-month long campaign by Ilyaas Omari to encourage the billionaire’s foundation to implement social development projects in northern Morocco, Hespress reported.

During the meeting, officials from the Gates’ foundation confirmed a new project worth $100 million in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region related to health services, the availability of water and electricity, the improvement of agriculture techniques, and the support of rural communities as well as women’s rights.

The project will begin around the end of September or the start of October this year and will continue for five years, according to officials from the foundation and the development bank

The two organization’s officials also said they were “betting on” the northern region and its promising potential to become a pioneering model for Africa.

Three years ago, Microsoft Imagine Academy in Casablanca released a video on YouTube highlighting the success of the institution in training 40,000 Moroccans to become Microsoft Office Specialists and Microsoft Certified Professionals.

The program’s administrators planned to train 60,000 more students by 2016.