Month: May 2024

Tunis: The higher commission for speeding up the implementation of public projects decided at its meeting on Monday, chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani, to continue negotiations with the various Tunisian and foreign stakeholders in the El Mdhilla triple superphosphate production plant project, in order to iron out the various obstacles.

At the 5th meeting of the commission, the Prime Minister underlined the need to continue negotiations between the various stakeholders in order to catch up on the accumulated delays and ensure the effective completion of the other stages of the project.

Hachani stated that such a project would boost the Tunisian economy and increase the value of exports in the sector, while creating direct and indirect jobs, according to a Prime Ministry press release on Tuesday.

At the opening of the meeting, the PM commended the progress made on a number of public projects, underscoring the need to step up coordination between ministries, institutions and public establishments in ord
er to complete the other scheduled strategic projects.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Starting on Tuesday afternoon, May 7, the weather will be characterised by temporarily thundery and sometimes torrential rainfall in the western regions, then, at the end of the day and during the evening, in eastern regions, according to a monitoring bulletin issued by the National Meteorological Institute (INM).

The daily rainfall will vary between 20 and 40 millimetres, reaching 60 millimetres locally, particularly in the governorates of Kasserine, Kef and Siliana.

Hailfall is expected in isolated areas, with the appearance of lightning.

Thundershowers will continue to fall on Wednesday May 8, 2024, especially over the Centre, the South and locally over the North, with a considerable drop in temperatures and strong gusts temporarily exceeding 70 km/h, when thunderclouds appear over the South.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: A delegation of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat and Consultancy Bureau, kicked off discussions in Tunis to prepare a study on the implementation of the Africa Cloud Ecosystem (ACS) project.

An inaugural working session was chaired on Monday by Communication Technologies Minister Nizar Ben Neji and attended by the COMESA delegation who are in Tunisia till May 10.

The ACS project aims to set up a unified digital system for African member countries and to contribute to the development of services in the digital education, e-health, smart agricutlure sectors, etc.

The meeting also helped review the project’s framework and goals, which will has initially targeted 10 countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zambia and Uganda.

The COMESA team will conduct field visits in the public data centres of ministries, public institutions and private data centres led by telecommunication network operators and IT services companies.

Ben Neji, who pointed out his departme
nt’s willingness to provide the necessary support for the success of this mission, reviewed the cloud computing projects currently underway in Tunisia, through which the government and national cloud computing services have been labelled as cloud computing service providers.

Tunisia finished off the ratification process of an agreement with the COMESA on hosting COMESA’s meetings, workshops and activities.

The ratification of this agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the Tunisian Republic (JORT) No.52 in 2024 under presidential decree No.204 of April 23, 2024.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The Tunisian Federation of Tourist Restaurants (FTRT) will organise two international events aimed at promoting Tunisian culinary tourism, on July 3-5, 2024, in Tunis, as part of the 2nd edition of IFSA Africa 2024 international food show Africa, which showcases the latest in food processing technology and packaging.

These events include the 1st International Culinary Heritage Days Festival and the first International Chefs’ Competition, to be held at the Kram Expo Centre in collaboration with ITNC Expo, the organiser of the IFSA Africa trade fair, FTRT Executive Director Mohamed Haouas told TAP.

The FTRT organised an information symposium on Tuesday for economic and cultural attachés representing over 30 embassies accredited in Tunis and international organisations based in Tunisia, with the support of the Ministries of Tourism and Handicrafts and Foreign Affairs.

The goal is to create a year-round tourism dynamic, promote Tunisian culinary tourism and develop exports of local agri-food products, a
dded Houas.

The event will also promote Tunisia’s image and offer the participating foreign countries an opportunity to showcase their culinary heritage, he added.

The number of foreign participants will be determined following the event, which was attended by attachés from several countries including Canada, Italy, France, Spain, the Republic of Cuba, Pakistan, Argentina, Algeria, Syria, Libya and Morocco.

IFSA Managing Director Islem Louati pointed out that this year’s show will feature five new international events and competitions, which will be juried by internationally renowned professionals.

He cited as an example the first the Carthage Africa Pizza Cup, which will be held in partnership with the Italian Academy” Accademia Pizzaloli Enotria,” adding that the winner of this competition will take part in the World Pizza Championship.

There will also be the Carthage International Oil Competitions Pavilion, a showcase where producers will present the best olive oils from their countries, which will be
assessed by international juries.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Kef: The government is keen to promote the handicrafts sector by increasing investment in the sector and ensuring that all difficulties faced by professionals are overcome, as ‘handicrafts is one of the pillars of development and job creation,’ said the Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, Mohamed Moez Belhassine.

Speaking at the opening of the National Conference on Investment in Handicrafts held in Kef on Tuesday, the minister pointed out that the handicrafts sector, which contributes 5% to the GDP, is one of the most dynamic sectors in terms of regional development and mobilisation of foreign currency for the treasury.

“The export of handicraft products generated revenues of approximately TND 150 million in 2023,” he stated.

The minister also noted that during the last year, 228 handicraft projects were launched with investments of TND 80 million, creating 1,378 new jobs, and 2,900 projects were financed in the form of working capital, creating 3,700 additional jobs.

Belhassine went on to say that the
conference was an opportunity to promote the financing mechanisms on offer and the legal framework for organising investment in the sector, as well as to present the procedures for setting up joint ventures in Tunisia.

In his speech, Riadh Kechaou, Secretary of State for Communitarian Enterprises, said that this conference would help to highlight the country’s development potential and promote the role of communitarian enterprises, which he described as “one of the effective solutions for creating jobs and promoting the craft sector”.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Tunindex closed Tuesday’s session down 0.1% to 9,129.2 points with a reduced volume of TND 4.3 million, according to broker Tunisie Valeurs.

Assurances Mghrebia shares were the best performers. Without being traded, the share price rose 4.5% to TND 51.190.

SOTETEL stole the show; the share price edged up 4.3% to TND 5.590, feeding the market with a capital of TND 747,000.

SOMOCER shares fell 5% to TND 0.570, with a low volume of TND 10,000.

SMART Tunisie shares also dropped 4.2% to TND 16.100, generating only TND 124,000.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Scattered showers, occasionally thunderous, are expected in the north and central regions, and locally in the south, with occasional heavy downpours on Tuesday night, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (INM).

Winds will be relatively strong from the north, occasionally reaching strong levels in the south and near the coasts, while remaining light to moderate elsewhere.

Temperature ranges between 15 and 19°C in the north and central regions and near the coasts, and between 20 and 24°C in the south.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Tourism revenues have increased by 8% in the first four months of 2024, reaching TND 1.6 billion, compared to TND 1.5 billion at the end of April 2023, according to monetary and financial indicators released Tuesday by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).

Cumulative workers’ remittances have also risen by 5%, from TND 2.2 billion to almost TND 2.4 billion currently.

Net foreign exchange reserves reached TND 23.4 billion (equivalent to 107 days of imports) as of May 6, up from TND 21.8 billion (94 days of imports) a year earlier.

The BCT indicators highlighted a 113% increase in cumulative external debt service, which rose from TND 3 billion at the end of April 2023 to TND 6.5 billion at the end of April 2024.

The central bank also reported a 14.4% decrease in total refinancing volume, which now stands at TND 14 billion compared to TND 16.3 billion at the beginning of May 2023.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: It is important to build partnerships with African countries in order to create wealth together in a spirit of co-development, said Lazhar Bennour, director general of economic and commercial cooperation at the Ministry of Trade and Export Development.

Speaking at a conference on a ‘Franco-German-Tunisian Triangulation towards the African Continent: Broadening Horizons, Strengthening Economic Ties,’ held Tuesday in Tunis, he added that “Tunisia’s ambitions are primarily to open up prospects on the African continent to the private sector, whereas historically the country’s trade has been concentrated on the European Union.

This diversification must take place in cooperation with European partners in a win-win approach,” he further pointed out.

In this context, the official mentioned the African Corridor project for landlocked African countries, under the Ministry of Trade. This is a Tunisian-Libyan commercial, economic and social development project that will give these landlocked countries access to
the Mediterranean via Tunisia.

A preliminary scoping study for this project has already been carried out with the support of GIZ, said Bennour, confirming Tunisia’s strong commitment to this project, which will change the country’s development model that has been based since the 1970s on subcontracting to European companies.

For his part, Mourad Ben Hassine, CEO of the Export Promotion Centre (CEPEX), stressed how important it was for Tunisia to step up its efforts to boost inter-African trade at a time when the continent was making significant economic progress.

In 2023, Tunisia’s export revenues reached TND 62 billion, but the share of exports to sub-Saharan Africa represented only 3.5% of total exports. Compared to 2022, exports to Africa remained almost stable, with a slight decrease of 1%.

This situation is prompting Tunisia to consider adopting new methods to further promote inter-African trade,” he said, referring to the sub-Saharan strategy developed jointly by CEPEX and the Ministry of Trade, the
memoranda of understanding signed by CEPEX with a number of African partners and the partnerships established with export promotion centres in certain sub-Saharan African countries.

For his part, Mohamed Ben Abid, Director General for the Business Climate at the Ministry of the Economy and Planning, stressed that Tunisia is working to strengthen the presence of Tunisian companies on the African continent through the revision of the investment law currently underway, which includes a chapter on promoting the internationalisation of Tunisian companies, particularly SMEs.

Other measures include the abolition of authorisations for economic activities and the revision of specifications, the facilitation of access to the Tunisian market and the preparation of a draft law on the knowledge economy and innovation, which is a regulatory framework for the creation of an ecosystem conducive to innovation.

The aim is to promote the internationalisation of innovative SMEs and start-ups and the export of Tunisian know-ho
w.

Similarly, Samir Abdelhafidh, Secretary of State for SMEs at the Ministry of the Economy and Planning, said that the Tunisian state was committed to the internationalisation of companies and capturing markets of the African continent. He stressed the importance of working with European partners, particularly Germany and France, to overcome the obstacles to this endeavour.

This strategic vision will enable Tunisian, German and French companies to work together to develop their presence on the sub-Saharan market,” he said, highlighting the advantages that Tunisia offers to German and French companies, in particular the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreements.

These agreements allow them to benefit from advantages in terms of access to the sub-Saharan market when exporting from Tunisia.

Anne Guéguen, French Ambassador to Tunisia, underlined the importance of the Franco-German-Tunisian Triangulation to the African Continent
, given the great potential of the continent with its 1.4 billion inhabitants. This is besides Tunisia’s advantages in terms of geographical proximity to Europe, cultural adaptability, multilingualism and a powerful export manufacturing industry in the digital, agro-food, construction, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, she pointed out.

The ambassador went on to say that “France is home to 1,400 companies that form a dynamic network with the capacity to export and co-develop with Tunisian companies, opening the way to the African continent”.

She spoke of the “Qawafel” project, funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and implemented by Expertise France.

A budget of pound 3.8 million has been allocated to help companies export, invest and set up in other countries on the continent by supporting a private, associative and public ecosystem in this internationalisation towards other African countries.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani held a working meeting on Tuesday evening with Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Fethi Zouhair Nouri, at the Government Palace in Kasbah.

The meeting focused on the role of banks in accelerating the pace of development and supporting the Tunisian economy, according to a press release from the Prime Ministry.

The role of the Central Bank of Tunisia in monitoring the smooth functioning of the banking sector and protecting users of banking service was highlighted.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse