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TUNIS: The sky, on Saturday night, will be covered with low clouds in most regions, with local fog in the eastern regions of the north and centre late at night.
Overnight temperatures will generally be between 12 and 16 degrees, reaching up to 20 degrees in the south.
The winds will be from the east, relatively strong near the coasts and in the south, and light to moderate in other regions.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Moez Belhassine, announced on Saturday the launch of the Tourism Code project, stressing the importance of reviewing the sector’s legal framework in light of the practical problems posed by the current texts.
Speaking at the opening of the ordinary general assembly of the Tunisian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies in Sousse on Saturday, the minister said his ministry was working to create an appropriate legal framework for the implementation of tourist accommodation projects in line with the pillars of sustainable tourism.
For Belhassine, this new framework will contribute to the development of investments and projects in this field, in parallel with the revision of the investment law and its orientation towards equitable and sustainable regional development.
The project to revise the classification system for hotel units has reached the final stage before publication, in parallel with the creation of a working group chaired by the Ministry of Finance and compri
sing representatives of the Ministries of Tourism, Justice, the Economy and Planning, as well as the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), to examine the files relating to the indebtedness of hotel establishments, he added.
He also said that his department was working on a strategic vision for the future of the sector.
Belhassine stressed that this strategy was being developed through a participatory approach involving the various stakeholders in the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, with the aim of developing diversified and sustainable tourism in the long term and enhancing the country’s status as a competitive tourist destination.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: The weather on Saturday is locally misty in eastern regions in the morning, then a bit cloudy nationwide.
The wind is blowing east relatively strong to strong near coasts and in the south, with local sand storms, and light to moderate elsewhere.
The sea is choppy to very choppy.
Temperatures are slightly down with highs ranging between 19 and 22°C in eastern coasts and on heights, between 23 and 30°C elsewhere, hovering over 33°C in the far south.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: To step up their competitiveness and productivity and preserve their staff, Tunisian companies should anticipate and adopt artificial intelligence AI-driven technological advances, reads the “Impact of AI on the furture of Business” report, published by the Arab Institute of Business Leaders (IACE).
Some 85 million jobs will be replaced by AI worldwide by 2025, while 97 million new jobs will be created, World Economic Forum forecasts show.
To this end, the IACE calls on Tunisian companies to adopt a new human-centred AI (HCAI) approach through training, adaptation and conversion programmes.
These programmes will help preserve the companies’ human capital by redirecting it towards the new niches created by AI-related technological developments.
The IACE further highlighted the impact of AI on the decision-making process within the companies. “Thanks to AI, the companies can analyse the available data on a large scale, make informed decisions and improve their strategic planning and employment capabi
lities.”
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: BH Assurance reported a 9.2% increase in turnover in 2023, reaching TND 176.6 million, compared to TND 161.6 million in 2022, according to a statement posted by the company on the Tunis Stock Exchange website.
The company’s Ordinary General Meeting, held on April 23, 2024, decided to distribute a dividend of TND 1.500 per share for the fiscal year 2023, for a total of TND 3.9 million.
The payment of these dividends will start as of May 2, 2024.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: A Tunisian delegation, led by Minister of Economy and Planning Feriel Ouerghi Sebai, are taking part on April 27-30 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the 2024 Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, announced the Ministry of Economy in a press release on Saturday.
The minister will attend the official meetings of the governors of the IsDB member States, as well as workshops organised on their sidelines.
She will also hold bilateral meetings with heads of institutions members of the IsDB Group, Saudi investment officials and representatives of funds, investment banks and private enterprises.
The goal is to outline the reforms launched by the Tunisian government, notably in connection with improving the business and investment climate, along with the priority development programmes and projects that will be carried out in this framework.
Ouerghi will also seize this opportunity to promote investment opportunities in Tunisia, as part of a win-win approach, especially in promising secto
rs.
The IsDB is one of Tunisia’s major donors. Over more than five decades, it has contributed to the funding of 45 development projects, worth some $2 billion (nearly TND 6.3 billion). These projects have focused on integrated agricultural development, infrastructure, health, vocational training, etc.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: Over 84% of waste in the coastal marine environment is polymer-based, mainly plastics. The remainder is made up of minerals, building materials and glass, data published by the WWF North Africa-Tunisia office show.
Most marine litter was found in the Kheireddine Canal (2,086 waste items along 100 metres of coastline ), Gulf of Gammarth (1,179 in 100 metres of coastline) and Chott Limaoua in the Gulf of Gabes (893 in 100 metres of coastline).
However, the lowest quantities were recorded at Yeti 2 beach in the Gulf of Gabes (755 in 100 metres of coastline) and Cap Serrat beach in the north (193 in 100 metres of coastline).
These data are the fruit of efforts of volunteers and participants in the “Adopt a Beach” campaign, a WWF initiative aimed at minimising plastic and coastal pollution through the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, Marine Programme Coordinator Mehdi Ben Aissa told TAP.
The 1st edition of this programme was held in 2023 with the participation of 40 partners, most of who
m represent the civil society.
In each edition of the programme, their mission is to monitor the pollution of the beaches and conduct a study on their environmental situation, he added.
“The results of this study are available on the WWF website. “In addition to monitoring, the WWF Tunisia Office is working on environmental education in public and private schools,” he added, indicating that it seeks to endeavour to introduce environmental education as a school subject.
Ben Aissa further said that 84% of schools had affirmed willingness to include this subject in the curriculum. In fact, a pilot experience will be launched next June.
Tunisia generates over 2.5 million tonnes of waste per year, with plastic waste accounting for 10% of all waste, data published by the Environment Ministry show.
500,000 tonnes of plastic waste end up in the sea each year, causing major environmental damages to the marine ecosystems and human health.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: The Industrial Property Agency (AFI) will publish its first carbon footprint report in May 2024, according to its CEO Kais Mejri.
The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the Agency’s carbon consumption (travel, electricity consumption, fossil fuel consumption, etc.) in a bid to raise awareness among the staff of the need to rationalise fossil consumption, he told TAP on the fringes of the 4th edition of Aerospace Meetings Tunisia.”
“Over the medium term, the goal is to prepare carbon footprints for a number of industrial zones,” he explained, adding that AFI is also working with ANME and STEG on projects to support companies in their decarbonisation plans.
The aim is to offer industrialists and industrial developers areas dedicated to the production of electricity from renewable energy sources.
Created on April 14, 1973, the AFI is a public institution under the authority of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.
Its goal is to reinforce the industrial fabric and contribute to Tun
isia’s economic and social development.
One of AFI’s main tasks is to conduct studies on the identification, fitting out and equipment of industrial zones, traditional industrial zones and small trades.
It equally creates and develops industrial zones with all the necessary facilities for the establishment of industrial projects.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: The stock market recovered at the end of Wednesday’s session (+0.46% to 9104.78 points), bringing its annual performance up to 1.03%.
Trading volumes were low during the session at TND 3.5 million, according to stock market broker Tunisie Valeurs.
BH LEASING shares were the best performers of the session, up 4.4% to TND 2.850.
MPBS shares rose by 3.5% to TND 5.390, with a trading volume of TND 102,000.
STIP shares fell by 4.4% to TND 3.740, traded by only TND 2,000.
ATB shares also dropped by 3.4% to TND 2.6, traded by TND 18,000.
AMEN BANK shares were up 0.4% at TND 39.150, injecting TND 457,000 into the market.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunis: The outcome of Tunisia’s participation in the 2024 Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), held April 15-20 in Washington, took centre stage at a ministerial meeting held on Wednesday in Kasbah.
Chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani and attended by Economy and Planning Minister Feryel Ouerghi and Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) Fethi Nouri, the meeting focused on the “positive and fruitful” outcome of the spring meetings, reads a Prime Ministry press release on Wednesday.
During these meetings, “Tunisia’s partners commended the resilience of the Tunisian economy against crises caused by the global upheavals,” the same source added.
Investors, financial institutions and economic actors also “reiterated willingness to endeavour to build a long-lasting partnership in all fields, and increase funding for mega-projects and sturctural reforms scheduled by the State.”
The PM pointed out the need to ensure notably t
he technical follow-up of these meetings’ outcome, as part of joint efforts to recover short- and medium-term economic balances.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse