Minister of Economy and Planning Samir Saied and Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) Bader Mohammed Alsaad signed Saturday in Rabat, Morocco, an agreement under which 16 million kuwaiti dinars (TND 157 million) in funding will be provided to Tunisia.
The funds will be earmarked for building and upgrading classified roads in Béja, Jendouba, el Kef and Nabeul, the ministry said on Sunday.
The two officials also signed a TND 3 million grant agreement. The funding will go towards the acquisition of medical equipment for the Tunisian health ministry.
The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the annual joint meetings of Arab financial institutions (April 28-30) in Rabat.
The minister hailed the fund’s ongoing support for the economic and social development process in Tunisia.
There is keenness, he added, to carry on “the fruitful cooperation and partnership in the coming years.”
Samir Saied had a talk, on the sidelies of these annual meetings, with the fund’s SG in charge of financing small- and medium-sized enterprises. He lauded the approval by the board of directors of 40 million dollars (TND 120 million) in funding to Tunisia for subscription to investment funds with a view to support SMEs.
The minister hailed the fund’s responsiveness and its readiness to consider a 10 million dollar (TND 30 million) funding application for the Tunisian Investment Fund. This will help enterprises access funding, he added.
Saied attended meetings of boards of governors of participting institutions and hads talks with some Arab counterparts and officials in charge of regional and international financial bodies.
The meetings were an opportunity to lay emphasis on Tunisia’s willingness to scale up economic cooperation with Arab countries and financial partners at this delicate juncture.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse