Year: 2018

Tunisian olive oil wins four medals at Evo-IOOC

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The Tunisian olive oil has been once again distinguished at the international scale by wining 4 medals (1 gold and 3 silver). This distinction took place during the 3rd Extra Virgin Olive-International Olive Oil Contest “Evo-IOOC” held on May 14-19 in Capaccio Paestum (Italy). The gold medal was won by Karim Fitouri’s “Olivko” and the three silver medals by Domaine Ben Ismail’s “Triomphe Thuccabor,” Nizar Haj Amor’s “Emeraude” and the north west oil Company “Oliviette,” according to the Exports Promotion Centre (CEPEX). This number of medals testifies to the importance…

Tunisians of Semmama celebrate mountain culture to challenge extremism

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The Shepherd Festival at Mount Semmama, near the Tunisian-Algerian border, brings a message of peace and resistance in an area often only known as a hideout for terror groups. In the countryside outside Sbeitla, in the Kasserine governorate of western central Tunisia, lies a small hill at the foot of Mount Semmama framed by a sunset sky. Vehicles of the National Guard lined up and a smattering of soldiers could be seen on Darwish hill. The hill, named after the acclaimed Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, was the venue for  “The…

CONECT receives ISO 9001 certificate, Version 2015

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The Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) .has received, on Thursday in Tunis, the ISO 9001 certificate, Version 2015, a standard that establishes the requirements for a quality management system, which will help businesses and organisations to increase efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. It is a partnership between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and CONECT, culminating in the completion of two major projects, namely the implementation of the ISO 9001 V2015 Quality Management System and the creation of new websites for CONECT and CONECT International, using state-of-the-art techniques.…

Italy’s belligerent new coalition is bad news for the EU

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The EU is in desperate need of reform. But it’s unlikely to get help from Italy’s inward-looking, migrant-bashing new rulers. As Giuseppe Conte is asked to form Italy’s next government, I walk out of a screening of Loro, the controversial portrayal of Silvio Berlusconi by Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino. With images of drug-fuelled sex parties still in my mind, the uproar that accompanies the announcement about Conte appears odd. Italy has endured more than 30 years of dreadful governments. For much of the last two decades the country was led by a convicted tax fraudster.…

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs caused massive global warming

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The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs caused temperatures to rise by 5°C. Earth stayed that hot for 100,000 years. That’s much hotter than expected, which could mean we are underestimating how much the planet will warm in the next few centuries. “The implication is that the amount of warming that we are likely to see is greater than current predictions,” says Ken MacLeod of the University of Missouri in Columbia. The asteroid that ended the reign of the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago slammed into rocks rich in carbonates, releasing immense quantities of carbon…

France proposes initiative to end Libyan political stalemate

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France is seeking to resume its mediation role in solving the Libyan crisis by proposing an initiative to end Libya’s political impasse with the participation of high official parties, a Libyan source told Egypt Today. According to the source, Paris has recently conducted several negotiation meetings with Libyan factions’ leaders and a number of international countries, before inviting the main parties to participate in a Paris meeting on Tuesday. Libyan Army Commander Khalifa Haftar, Libyan Presidential Council Chief Fayez Serraj, First Deputy of the State Supreme Council Nagy Mokhtar and…

Agriculture marked as Africa’s path to prosperity, and Dube Port is an example of what is achievable

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Processing zones for staple crops, an initiative aimed at boosting food security, have been earmarked for several locations in Africa, and KwaZulu-Natal’s Dube Port is seen as providing valuable lessons. Such zones have been implemented in Malaysia, Vietnam and in Latin American countries, as well as in Tunisia and Morocco, the African Development Bank (AfDB) says. The bank views agriculture in Africa as a key to unlocking export growth. It estimates that more than 65% of the world’s arable land is located in Africa. And, while 61% of Africans work…

Tunisia tourism makes return with revenues up nearly a third

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Tunisia’s tourism industry, hard hit by terrorist attacks in 2015, has undergone a “real recovery” with revenues up nearly a third so far this year, the sector’s minister said Wednesday. “There is a significant improvement,” Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik told AFP, as visitor numbers bettered the first five months of 2014, largely due to rising Russian and Chinese arrivals. Visitor arrivals surpassed 2.3 million through to May 20, up 21.8% from the same period last year and 5.7% higher than for the same period in 2010. Sector revenues hit…

German bank to fund $96m Tunisia water project

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Tunisia  signed a €82 million ($96 million) loan agreement with Germany’s KfW Development Bank to finance a water project, the Anadolu Agency reported. The agreement was signed by Tunisian Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Ziyad Al-Athari, and the Director of KfW’s office in Tunis, Sven Neunsinger. The loan will be used to finance a water desalination plant in the town of Zarat in the Gabès Governorate. Interest on the loan is expected to be 1.86 per cent payable over 15 years with a five-year grace period. The project is estimated…

How Tunisia’s Startup Act is a blueprint for other African policy makers

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Tunisia’s new startup act, which was passed last month, is a blueprint for how other African countries could create an enabling environment for innovators and tech startups from the “bottom-up”, says a former banker and entrepreneur who helped draft the act. “This legal framework is the result of bottom-up work that was initiated by some of the entrepreneurial ecosystem players,” says Walid Hached, COO at Tunis-based co-working space at Cogite. The Tunisia Startup Act includes about a number of measures that aim to encourage entrepreneurship, make it easier to start and end a business, as well as easier to…