Year: 2017

Higher education in Tunisia: greater autonomy for better quality

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Investing in human capital, through education in particular, has always been an important component of Tunisia’s national development. This blog series, ‘Education in Tunisia’, explores the role education could play in creating opportunities and promoting sustainable and inclusive growth, the challenges the education system faces in meeting these goals, and some potential solutions.    Like many other countries around the world, Tunisia knows that the creation of knowledge requires a network of institutions of higher education and scientific research that are capable of engaging minds, exploring the unknown and then…

Agri-food SIAMAP exhibition kicks off in Tunis

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A record number of exhibitors (500) and visitors (200,000) are expected at the 13th edition of the SIAMAP 2017 International Show of Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery & Fishing from October 31 to November 5 in the Tunis’s Kram exhibition space. The announcement was made by the head of the Tunisian Agriculture and Fisheries Union (UTAP), Abdelmajid Zar, who noted that this year the exhibition will present a chock-full program centering on sharing research and experiment results. Country guest of honor will be Turkey. SIAMAP serves as a showcase for Tunisian agriculture,…

Do You Know That Africa is Building the 8th Wonder of The World?

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Nine miles wide and 4,750 miles long, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, The Gambia, and Tunisia have banded together on an unprecedented endeavor to stave off impending catastrophe. The Great Green Wall is an African-led project with an epic ambition: to grow an 8,000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa. Its goal is to provide food, jobs and a future for the millions of people who live in a region…

Tunisia Foreign Minister meets PM Modi

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Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, who is on a four-day visit to India, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday afternoon. The minister is here to co-chair the 12th India-Tunisia Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) along with Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister of India. The JCM will enable both the countries with a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation in political, economic and cultural areas and people-to-people exchanges, a press release by Ministry of External Affairs said. Both countries will also be signing agreements and Memorandum of understanding (MoU)s. Besides official meetings, Jhinaoui, will address the business…

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani on official visit to Tunisia on 30 and 31 October 2017

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European Parliament President, Antonio Tajani, will pay an official visit to Tunisia from 30 to 31 October 2017. Ahead of the trip, the President declared: “Tunisia is a young democracy, a friend and a key partner of the European Union. We face common challenges requiring a joint response: stability in the Mediterranean and in Africa, […] Africain.info

Tunisia to get €38.6 mln loan from AfDB to boost agricultural value chains

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– Tunisia will soon get from the African Development Bank (AfDB) two loans worth a total of €38.6 million to finance its project for the valorisation of irrigated lands and to develop agricultural value chains. This was revealed by AfDB itself which highlighted that the facilities will be provided via its co-financing fund, Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF). Aiming mainly to improve the living standards and earnings of rural populations which are among the least favored, the project will be carried out between March 2018 and December 2022. It will target…

Tunisia will ask U.S. for a $500 million loan guarantee -senior government official

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Tunisia will ask the United States for a $500 million loan guarantee as it prepares to issue bonds on financial markets next year, a senior government official told Reuters on Thursday. Tunisia will need about 7.4 billion Tunisian dinars ($3 billion) from foreign loans including 1.4 billion dinars from the sale of bonds. Since the 2011 uprising that ended the rule of the former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the United States has guaranteed about 1 billion dollars in loans to Tunisia to support the democratic transition in the…

Tunisia’s president must boost economy without repeating mistakes of the past

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The Tunisian government signaled a tough decision last week to reduce the public-sector payroll by 3,000 to lower its budget deficit. This may be a long-awaited sign that President Beji Caid Essebsi is prepared to make the economic reforms his country needs to achieve true stability and sustainable progress in a region that badly needs a democratic success. The pivotal opportunity that Tunisia’s development presents for the Arab world and for its president brings to mind another Tunisian head of state, the legendary Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba. As the country’s first…

Ringing tribute to Scholar Dr. Mohamed Habib El Hila after donating his own library to National Library of Tunisia

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The  National Library of Tunisia hosted on Thursday, October 19, 2017, a ceremony during which scholar and Doctor Mohamed Habib El Hila was honoured after his recent donation of his personal library including some rare manuscripts of the previous centuries. Director of the National Library Raja Ben Slama said that the noble gesture of Doctor Habib El Hila by donating his wealthy library is an act of self-denial for the future generations so that they make the most of these old works and manuscripts of old scholars during the Islamic…

Tunisia expects to localize traditional Chinese medicine

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In Tunisia, where many people still lack access to medical facilities, there is growing hope that the country could strengthen cooperation with China to localize traditional Chinese medicine, an expert said Sunday. Speaking at the first Sino-Tunisian traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) meeting in the eastern coastal city of Sousse, ReBali, chairman of Tunisian Acupuncture TCM Association, said that a lot of Tunisian people still have limited understanding of TCM and regard TCM just as acupuncture. “Tunisia expects to further strengthen cooperation with traditional Chinese medicine experts, to realize the localization…