Day: June 11, 2023

The number of deaths caused by road accidents reached 468 since the start of the year till June 8, according to data released by the National Road Safety Observatory (ONSR).

The number of accidents dropped by 224 in the same period from 2,444 last year to 2,220.

Likewise, the number of injuries caused by road accidents fell by 363, to 3,128, against 3,491 in 2022.

The main causes of these accidents are the lack of attention (42%), excessive speed (15,59%) and failure to give way (8.47%).

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunisia will chair works of the 16th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), due June 13-15 in New York.

Social Affairs Minister Malek Ezzahi who will lead the Tunisian delegation, will deliver an address during this conference which will be hosted at the United Nations headquarters and attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, reads a Social Affairs Ministry press release.

Several themes will be discussed during this conference, notably the harmonisation of national policies and strategies with the CRPD and access of persons with disabilities to reproductive health services and digitisation.

Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations Tarek Ladeb will chair on the occasion, an interactive debate on June 13 on the implementation of the CRPD.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

We are working with Tunisia on a comprehensive package which is built on five pillars, the 1st of which is economic development, said European Commission President Ursual von der Leyen at a press conference held on Sunday with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the end of a meeting with President Kais Saied.

“The European Commission is considering macro-financial assistance as soon as the necessary agreement is found. We are ready to mobilise up to EUR 900 million for this purpose. And as an immediate step, we could provide an additional EUR 150 million in budget support,” she added.

“The second pillar is investment and trade. The EU is Tunisia’s biggest foreign investor and trading partner. And we propose to go further. We would like to modernise our current trade agreement. There is much potential to create jobs and boost growth here in Tunisia.

An important focus for our investments is the digital sector. We already have a good basis. Our flagship project, the Medusa submarine cable, will link the two sides of the Mediterranean. The Medusa cable is bringing high-speed broadband to the region – a real digital bridge that by 2025 will connect 11 countries around the Mediterranean. Together with the European Investment Bank, we are investing EUR 150 million in this project.”

“The biggest area for investment we see is energy. This is our third pillar. Energy is a win-win area. Tunisia is looking to harness its tremendous potential for renewable energy. And the European Union needs reliable energy suppliers of clean energy as we are electrifying our entire economy.

Thus, we need to invest in our infrastructure so that Tunisia can export clean energy to Europe. An important milestone in this journey is the ELMED interconnector, an undersea electricity cable linking Tunisia to Italy.

The European Union is investing more than EUR 300 million in the ELMED interconnector. This is great news for Tunisia and Europe. In the autumn, we propose to organise together an investment forum to bring more private investment to Tunisia’s renewable sector, including hydrogen. To put all this in a common roadmap, we are working on a Memorandum of Understanding on renewables with Tunisia,” she pointed out.

“The fourth pillar is migration. We both have an interest in breaking the cynical business model of smuggler. It is horrible to see how they deliberately risk human lives for profit. We will work together on an Anti-Smuggling Operational Partnership. And we will support Tunisia with border management. This year, the EU will provide EUR 100 million to Tunisia for border management, but also search and rescue, anti-smuggling and return.”

The objective is to support a holistic migration policy rooted in the respect of human rights, she added.

“The fifth and very important pillar is about people-to-people contacts. Tunisia has a young and vibrant population. And we should do everything to bring people together. We will create a Tunisia window in the Erasmus+ programme worth EUR 10 million to support student exchange.

And we will establish ‘Talent Partnerships’ to give Tunisia’s youth opportunities to study, work or train in the EU. They will develop new skills useful for modernising Tunisia’s economy. There is a lot of work ahead of us. I have asked Commissioner Várhelyi to take this work forward.”

“And finally, we will reinstate the Association Council. The High Representative is ready to organise the next meeting before the end of the year. Team Europe, the Commission and the Member States are looking forward to working on our partnership with Tunisia,” she announced.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

“We are very satisfied with the joint declaration of the European Union (EU) with Tunisia adopted today. This is an important first step towards creating a true partnership with the EU that can address the migration crisis but also development for both sides of the Mediterranean in an integrated way,” said Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the end of the joint meeting held on Sunday in Carthage, with President Kais Saied, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

“We have an important opportunity to seize until the European Council’s meeting at the end of this month. We must all continue to work hard to achieve a memorandum between Europe and Tunisia that can lay the foundation of a new page in the history between Europe and Tunisia,” she pointed out.

“We are ready to host an international conference on migration and development in Rome that we talked about with President Saied, as a further step in this journey that we have undertaken together and of course we consider this work useful also to help Tunisia in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the framework agreement that remains a priority for the stability and the growth for the country,” she indicated.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

A joint statement between Tunisia and the European Union was signed on Sunday at Carthage Palace, during a meeting between President of the Republic Kais Saied, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula Van Der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

The text of the statement is as follows, according to the Presidency of the Republic:

Building on our shared history, geographic proximity, and strong relationship, we have agreed to work together on a comprehensive partnership package, strengthening the ties that bind us in a mutually beneficial manner.

We believe there is enormous potential to generate tangible benefits for the EU and Tunisia.

The comprehensive partnership would cover the following areas:

-Economic and trade ties

-Sustainable and competitive energy partnership

-Migration

-People-to-people contacts

The EU and Tunisia share strategic priorities and in all these areas, we will gain from working together more closely.

Our economic cooperation will boost growth and prosperity through stronger trade and investment links, promoting opportunities for businesses including small and medium sized enterprises. Economic support, including in the form of Macro Financial Assistance, will also be considered. Our energy partnership will assist Tunisia with the green energy transition, bringing down costs and creating the framework for trade in renewables and integration with the EU market.

As part of our joint work on migration, the fight against irregular migration to and from Tunisia and the prevention of loss of life at sea, is a common priority, including fighting against smugglers and human traffickers, strengthening border management, registration and return in full respect of human rights.

People-to-people contacts are central to our partnership and this strand of work will encompass stronger cooperation on research, education, and culture, as well as developing Talent Partnerships, opening up new opportunities for skills development and mobility, especially for youth.

Enhanced political and policy dialogue within the EU-Tunisia Association Council before the end of the year will offer an important opportunity to reinvigorate political and institutional ties, with the aim of addressing common international challenges together and preserving the rules-based order.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement have been tasked with working out a Memorandum of Understanding on the comprehensive partnership package, to be endorsed by Tunisia and the European Union before the end of June.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

A broader agenda for Tunisia to discuss many issues over the coming weeks and to implement all the plans made at the economic and bilateral levels was agreed on, said Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the end of the joint meeting held on Sunday in Carthage, with President Kais Saied, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Prime Minister Girogia Meloni.

Rutte further indicated that he had told Saied that “the Netherlands will send an economic mission as soon as possible to Tunisia to discuss energy, agriculture, water management and of course tourism, and to build on the bilateral cooperation in the development field.”

“Migration was also on the meeting’s agenda and we made an excellent agreement on this. We will work on this over the coming weeks and it is important indeed to kill that cynical business model of the boat smugglers. Migration is at this moment one of the most important issues facing all of us,” he pointed out.

“I was very happy for the European agreement reached last Thursday in Luxemburg between the 27 member states in the European Commission but of course also the discussions now with Tunisia is also important and we can help each other. All will be done in full cooperation and full accordance with human rights,” Rutte indicated.

“We have discussed this comprehensive package and we will now work on this over the coming weeks up to the European Council meeting at the end of June. The window is open, we all sense there is an opportunity to really foster this relationship between EU and Tunisia,” he said.

“A lot of work is to be done but I’m very hopeful that we will achieve our goals on all the issues which we have worked on together,” he concluded.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

President of the Republic Kais Saied said on Sunday that with regard to negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), “solutions can never be presented in the form of diktats,” adding that “conventional solutions will only worsen the social crisis and have a negative impact on the situation in Tunisia and the region as a whole.”

“The IMF must review its proposals and then a solution can be reached,” he argued.

He was speaking on Sunday at Carthage with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula Van Der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

If Tunisia is currently going through a difficult financial, economic and social situation, it is because Tunisians have long been the victims of the repercussions of past domestic and foreign policies.”

“The Tunisian people, who had revolted at the end of 2010 against despotism and corruption, would not abandon their demands for freedom, nor their legitimate right to employment and national dignity,” the Head of State pointed out.

Referring to the spoliated funds, the President of the Republic underlined that Tunisia has not yet recovered the funds looted before and after 2011, not to mention the misappropriated loans.”

Kais Saied called for the conversion of these loans into investment projects.

Solutions to the situation in Tunisia should stem from the sole will of Tunisians, he affirmed.

“Tunisia is not an international issue, but rather a purely national one, and, the solution must be found on this basis, together with our partners.”

With regard to migration, President Saied called for a realistic and collective approach.

“Our values dictate that we treat irregular migrants humanely,” he asserted, adding that Tunisia has changed from a transit point to a destination. The stay of migrants must be regular, and everyone must respect the country and its laws.”

He described as inhumane and inadmissible the proposal put forward discreetly by certain sides to settle migrants in Tunisia in return for financial support for the country.

Furthermore, security solutions have proved ineffective as they have increased the suffering of the victims of poverty and war.

“If they had the most basic attributes of a decent life, they would not have been easy prey for criminal networks,” he considered.

Referring to the issue of European investment in Tunisia, the Head of State pointed out that only political stability, social peace and the eradication of corruption can bring them to fruition.

The creation of wealth and fair competition require the eradication of corruption networks and lobbies, underlining the need to provide all the conditions conducive to investment.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse