Year: 2018

Plan to unify Med electric network

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Fourteen projects for a global investment of 16 billion euros will connect over the next few years countries overlooking the Mediterranean in one sustainable electrical network able to provide energy to some 500 million consumers. This is thanks to the action plan launched by Med-Tso, the association formed by 20 electricity providers (including Italy’s Terna) from 18 EU and non-EU countries, including Italy, France, Spain, Egypt and Libya. The goals achieved after three years of work have been presented to the European Parliament. “Trans-border interconnections in the Euro-Mediterranean region are…

China opens first overseas center for BeiDou navigation satellite system in Tunisia

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The China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Center, the first overseas center for China’s indigenous BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), was officially inaugurated in Tunisia on Tuesday. The center is established as a pilot project between China and the Tunisia-based Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO), an Arab governmental organization under the Arab League, to promote the global application of the BDS, said Ran Chengqi, director of China Satellite Navigation Office. “The center could serve as both a window to showcase the BDS, and a platform for promoting international exchanges and cooperation,”…

Tunisia seeks to recover USD 2.72 billion of bad loans

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A committee will be set up to monitor this work, which will include five lawmakers Tunisia plans to recover 6.5 billion dinars (USD 2.72 billion) of bad loans in three public banks as part of its banking reforms, the minister of economic reforms told Reuters on Tuesday. Banking reform was required by the International Monetary Fund which it agreed in 2016 to assist Tunisia with a four-year loan programme worth about USD 2.8 billion. In 2015, the government injected USD 400 million to re-capitalize struggling state lenders Tunisian Bank Corporation…

Tunisia plans 1-GW wind, solar auction this month

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Tunisia is expected this month to launch a tender for the procurement of 1,000 MW of wind and solar power, representing an investment of TND 2.5 billion (USD 1.04bn/EUR 847m), Reuters reports, citing a top government official. The international tender is scheduled to start on April 27, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said at an energy conference, as cited by the news agency. The projects will be located in the regions of Kairouan, Tozeur, Tataouine, Sidi Bouzid, Kebeli and Tataouine. Further details were not provided. In March, the North African country pledged…

This Man Hopes to Bring Peace to the Middle East by Solving Sky-High Unemployment

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In 2006, Ron Bruder, an American entrepreneur and property developer, set out to see if he could crack one of the Middle East’s most explosive and intractable problems: youth unemployment. He started a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Education For Employment (EFE) to help young people in the region learn a marketable skill and find employment. These are the crucial first steps to building a stable community—a cycle that was utterly broken, as many youths in the Arab world struggled to land jobs. All too often young people graduated from high…

Italy arrests 13 in high-speed migrant trafficking ring

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Italian authorities have arrested 13 suspects in a high-speed migrant trafficking ring operating between Tunisia and Sicily whose members espoused radical jihadist views. Italian financial police in Sicily said Tuesday that a wiretapped conversation between two traffickers revealed one saying he intended to travel to France and carry out a suicide attack and asking for prayers. The trafficking group allegedly organized transport from the Tunisian port of Nabeul to Trapani in Sicily aboard rubber dinghies equipped with high-speed outboard motors and trained navigators for 3,000 euros ($3,690) to 5,000 euros…

Olive oil: EU Exceptional support promised to Tunisia falls short of expectations, according to TOE

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The exceptional two-year (2016-2017) support that the European Union (EU) promised to Tunisia, in terms of customs clearance for the export of Tunisian olive oil destined for the EU, “fell short of expectations, “said the Tunisian Observatory of Economy (TOE) in an article entitled” Assessment of temporary European support for exports of Tunisian olive oil”. Besides, TOE notes that only 2,557 tonnes of olive oils have benefited from the customs clearance licenses (3.7%) on the promised quotas estimated at 70,000 tonnes. The European Parliament adopted, April 19, 2016, Regulation 2016/580 granting…

No Foreseeable Remedy for Tunisia’s Ailing Healthcare Sector

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Infested with rampant corruption, the public health sector finds itself in the hands of conspirators engaged in the theft and embezzlement of public money through dubious deals. For decades, Tunisia has prided itself on the billions of dollars invested in building an advanced healthcare system that offers decent healthcare for its citizens, as well as Arab and foreign residents and visitors. However, that rosy image is being dissipated by the dark reality of accumulated ailments. Nowadays, the shortage of medicines has become so commonplace. It indicates a huge disruption to…

Portugal generated enough renewable energy to power the whole country in March

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Portugal’s renewable electricity production exceeded monthly consumption for what is likely the first time, in March, according to the nation’s transmission system operator, REN.The average renewable generation for the month exceeded 103% of consumption, beating out the last record (99.2%), set in 2014. It almost certainly won’t be the last time. The country is predicting that renewables will satisfy its mainland electricity needs by 2040, ultimately eliminating the electricity sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Although most of last month’s electricity came from water and wind (link in Portuguese), the country relied on some fossil fuel and imported electricity. Water- and wind-generated power can be…

Tunisia to host conference on China’s Belt and Road Initiative

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Tunisia will host on April 10-11 a conference on “China’s Belt and Road Initiative: the Return of the Silk Road to the Mediterranean.” The event is initiated by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)’s Regional Programme South Mediterranean, in collaboration with consulting firm, Global Prospect Intelligence, KAS said in a press release. This event, which will bring together Tunisian, Chinese, European and Maghreb experts, aims to enable a discussion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project still little known in Tunisia and the rest of North Africa, and the geopolitical and economic…