"We need football schools and we need to develop young players, give them a proper education, if we are to have a strong national team."
Nevertheless the Frenchman is not the national technical director - his mission is to lead the Atlas Lions to Angola 2010 and the World Cup in South Africa later in that year.
"Like every Moroccan I want to get to the World Cup," he says.
"Will we get there? Well, we will certainly do our best.
"We have an obligation to qualify for all the big tournaments, and being consistent is a source of progress.
It's excessively important to qualify for all the major tournaments, whatever our results when we get there
Roger Lemerre
"It's excessively important to qualify for all the major tournaments, whatever our results when we get there."
Lemerre's World Cup results with his former teams seems to reflect this mantra -qualification is vital, the results in the final tournament are sometimes less impressive.
France flopped in 2002, losing to Senegal and crashing out in the first round, while Tunisia did well to qualify in 2006, but also failed to progress to the knock-out stages.
Lemerre has had more success in continental competition, winning the European championship in 2000, and the Africa Nations Cup for Tunisia in 2004.
So what are his chances of repeating the feat with his new charges?
Moroccan football is at a depressing low, after the Atlas Lions failed miserably in Ghana early this year.
The side seems to lack star quality, and the retirement of key players like Nourredine Naybet has never properly been compensated.
Perhaps that is why Lemerre is so keen to stress youth development - he simply doesn't have world beaters at his disposal right now.
However the Frenchman will have a look at some intriguing young talent, who could impress in later years.
Players like Nabil El Zhar of Liverpool and Hibs' striker Abdessalam Benjelloun impressed in the July round of World Cup qualifiers.
The stand in coach who took charge of those four games, Fathi Jamal, has been named Lemerre's assistant.
He told the BBC the young guns have a bright future.
"We have a lot of potential, a reservoir of talents in our Olympic team which is very promising.
"There is no reason for us not to qualify for the next stage of the qualifiers," he said.
That will be Lemerre's first task, with Morocco playing Ethiopia away and then Mauritania at home.
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BBC Sport's James Copnall looks at the challenges facing Moroco's new coach, Roger Lemerre.
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