Year: 2018

SAIC Motor to Open First Manufacturing Plant in Africa

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Plans have been concluded by Chinese automaker, SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, to launch its first manufacturing plant of in Africa. This is part of the firm’s expansion drive into the African market. The new factory will be located in Tunisia, a northern African nation. Recently, SAIC Motor signed an agreement with a Tunisian firm, Meninx Holding, for the setting up of the plant in the country to serve African and European markets. SAIC Motors noted that the new deal forms part of its strategic expansion agenda to become a leading…

Tunisia will not impose new taxes in 2019 – prime minister

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Tunisia will impose no new taxes on individuals and firms under the 2019 budget but will continue to reform a costly subsidies system, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Friday. The country has struggled to fulfil donors’ demands to reform its economy and cut its budget deficit amid turmoil since the ousting of president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Unwilling to cut a bloated public service due to resistance from labour unions, the government has raised taxes several times, prompting riots for weeks in January.  Tunisia raised fuel prices…

Back to business: Tunisia-Libya border reopening sparks hope for locals dependent on smugglers

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Tunisian traders are back to business in the southeastern town of Ben Guerdane, following the reopening of the Ras Jedir border crossing between Tunisia and Libya on September 1. The town has started to recover from a two-month halt to its commercial activity since Libya first barred the transit of goods to Tunisia, then closed its border. Until not long ago, Ben Guerdane was the scene of protests that pushed dozens of Tunisians to the streets in June. A group of local traders blocked the main road to the key border…

DCCC welcomes new Fulbright scholars, international students

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Davidson County Community College (DCCC) opens its doors yet again to the world. The campus welcomes seven international students and scholars from four different countries for the 2018-2019 academic year. Four international students travelled to Davidson County from Tunisia. The students are a part of the Tunisia Community College Scholarship Program sponsored through the U.S. Department of State’s Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program. “We are all here to rise up in this world and make it a better world,” Tunisia program student Dhia Salaoui said. “I didn’t expect to be surrounded…

Tunisian navy rescues 25 Italy-bound illegal immigrants

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The Tunisian navy rescued 25 illegal Tunisian immigrants attempting to reach the Italian coast, the defense ministry said Thursday. These migrants, aged between 14 and 37 years old, were rescued 75 km off Djerba Island in southeastern Tunisia, the ministry added. Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights recently revealed that 3,811 illegal Tunisian immigrants managed to arrive at the Italian coast during the first eight months of 2018. TunisianMonitorOnline (Xinhuanet)

Tunisian Parliament to consider criminalizing racial discrimination

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 In an Aug. 29 joint press conference with the Association of Ivorian Students and Interns in Tunisia, Yemina Thabet, the head of the Tunisian Association for the Support of Minorities, called on the Tunisian Parliament to speed up the ratification of the draft law criminalizing racism. Eight Ivorians were physically and verbally abused by Tunisians in late August. The Tunisian Forum on Economic and Social Rights, the Euro-Mediterranean Network and the Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights first proposed a bill to criminalize racial discrimination in Tunisia at a press conference in March 2016. In June 2016,…

Nissan to set a pick-up assembly plant in Tunisia

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Peyman Kargar, Nissan’s vice president announced on September 10, 2018, that his group would set a pick-up assembly plant in Tunisia in collaboration with the local group Mzabi. “This project whose implementation cost is $33 million and which will be realized in two phases in partnership with Mzabi group will help create 500 jobs”, the vice-president said. This was announced during a meeting between Peyman Kargar, Slim Feriani, Tunisia’s minister of industry and Moncef Mzabi, Mzabi group’s CEO. The minister of industry explained the importance of the automobile industry for Tunisia. “Tunisia…

Tarek Cherif presents to President Essebsi measures proposed by CONECT for 2019 Finance Bill for national economy recovery

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President of the Confederation of Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) Tarek Cherif discussed with President Beji Caid Essebsi the economic and social situation of the country and programmes planned by CONECT to contribute to the economic revival in Tunisia. At a meeting on Thursday in Carthage palace, the President of the CONECT presented to the Head of State, the measures proposed by the confederation for the 2019 Finance Bill to contribute to the recovery of the national economy, the Presidency of the Republic said in a press statement. The…

Tunisia-based group unveils Libya reconciliation scheme

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The Libyan Group for Peace, an independent movement based in the Tunisian capital Tunis, unveiled an initiative on Thursday aimed at achieving political reconciliation in the troubled North African country. The group includes representatives from Libya’s main rival camps, including Gaddafi loyalists, pro-revolution figures, and individuals close to Tobruk-based strongman Khalifa Haftar. “The best solution to the Libyan crisis is some kind of national authority that represents all segments of the Libyan people,” group member Ashour al-Arifi said at a Wednesday evening press conference in Tunis. Al-Arifi, who supported the…

Enova Robotics achieves biggest fundraising for a Startup in Tunisia

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Enova Robotics, the only manufacturer of smart robots in Africa and the Arab world, has completed a fundraising of around 4.5 million dinars, which is the most important fundraising event carried out by a Startup in Tunisia. Enova Robotics Founder Anis Sahbani told media that its Startup is now moving towards a decisive phase of industrialization by creating a French entity Enova Robotics. He was a lecturer at Sorbonne University in robotics and head of the most important research laboratory on robotics, then converted into an entrepreneur. He said that…