President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed on Sunday that the agreement with Tunisia includes a set of measures under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic and comprehensive partnership, which will be implemented, following up on her statement in this context, “we will allocate pound 100 million in EU funding to work towards deepening partnership and cooperation in the areas of search and rescue, border management, the fight against trafficking in citizens and law enforcement”.
In a speech delivered today at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding on the “strategic and comprehensive partnership between Tunisia and the European Union”, Ursula von der Leyen said that these efforts were part of the effort to facilitate legal migration, stressing the importance of the partnership with Tunisia to ensure that people on both shores of the Mediterranean enjoy the benefits, saying: “More than ever we need genuine cooperation … to strike at the criminal networks and smugglers who exploit human misery…”.
The President of the European Commission recalled the visit of June 11 and the memorandum of understanding on the strategic and comprehensive partnership that was prepared, pointing out that they are working for stability and prosperity and for future generations, stressing that Tunisia and the European Union are linked by history and geography and share strategic interests and that it is, therefore, important to deepen the partnership with Tunisia.
She explained that the agreement now has 5 pillars, the first of which concerns bringing peoples and individuals closer together.
In this context, she emphasised that opportunities will be offered to young people in particular and a Tunisian window will be opened in the eroms + programme with 10 million euros to pay for exchanges, and a partnership will be launched to give young Tunisians opportunities to study, work or train in the European Union in order to gain experience that will be important for the Tunisian economy when they return to their country.
She also indicated that schools will be modernised, noting that 80 schools will be supported with their digital and green transition platforms, with funding amounting to 6.5 million euros.
With regard to economic development, the President of the European Commission emphasised that work will be done to build a solid Tunisian economy that will generate development, adding: “We will work to support Tunisia by providing financial support, and we will work within this framework to provide budgetary support”.
As for the point relating to investment and trade, she mentioned that the European Union is Tunisia’s leading partner in terms of investment, specifying that joint work will be carried out to improve the business climate and attract more investment, stressing that an investment forum is scheduled to be organised next autumn to bring together investors and financial institutions.
She stressed that there will also be opportunities to support the green economy for the development of tourism and local communities, and will focus on investment in the digital sector, reviewing a number of projects such as the “Meduza” submarine cable, which will link Tunisia to the European Union and connect 11 countries around the Mediterranean by 2025, pointing out that 350 million euros will be allocated to this project.
She also addressed water management and sustainable agriculture, which she said were key issues in dealing with drought and structuring the food system, adding: “We are going to create investment in this sector, we are going to provide expertise and we are going to share technologies”.
In the field of renewable energies, one of the points of the memorandum of understanding stressed that Tunisia has enormous potential in renewable energies and will work to develop this sector by providing the necessary technology, noting that Europe needs to be supplied with clean energy and is in the process of decarbonising its economy and cleaning up its resources such as green hydrogen and electricity produced from renewable energies.
The European official underlined the willingness to support the strategic partnership with Tunisia in the field of energy in order to accelerate the energy transition and send projects aimed at securing supply and providing clean energy at affordable prices.
On June 11, at the Carthage Palace, a joint declaration was signed between Tunisia and the European Union, at a meeting attended by the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, and Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.
The joint declaration includes an agreement to work together on a “comprehensive partnership package” to strengthen the ties that unite the two parties in their common interest.
. The comprehensive partnership will cover the following areas:
/ Strengthening economic and trade relations
/ Establishing a partnership in the field of sustainable and competitive energy
/ Immigration
/ Bringing people closer together.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse