Year: 2018

Tunisia plans to launch solar and wind projects worth USD 1 billion in a tender

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Tunisia will launch a global tender on April 27 to build 2.5 billion Tunisian dinars (USD1 billion) solar and renewable wind power plants, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Thursday. Speaking at an energy conference that the tender aims to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity from solar and wind power in the regions of Kairouan, Tozeur, Tataouine, Sidi Bouzid and Qebli without giving details. Tunisia said in March it would invest 12 billion dinars in electricity and other energy projects from 2018 to 2020. At that time, it mentioned projects…

ECRE denounces mass deportations of migrants from Algeria

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Some migrants claim that they were abused by Algerian officials before and during their deportations. Algeria is one of several North African countries that have not signed an African Union protocol on the free circulation of people. Organizations in the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) have denounced that Algeria has recently deported hundreds of African migrants as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. Algeria has repatriated 27,000 sub-Saharan migrants since 2015, according to Interior Minister Nouredine Bedoui, who added that repatriations are still ongoing. 27,000 migrants forced…

Tunisia, Morocco decide to reject ‘colonial’ French in favour of English

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Tunisian activists have launched a campaign to demand that French is renounced as the second language in the country and replaced with English. Activists who launched the Hashtag #NotoFrenchyestoEnglish believe English is more widely used in science, technological development and research. The campaign was launched in Morocco in March before moving to Tunisia. Former Tunisian Minister of Education, Neji Jalloul, had previously said he was seeking to add English as well as Portuguese and Chinese as subjects in the third year of primary school without giving up French. In a…

UN World Food Program taps blockchain startup for school lunch tracking in Tunisia

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The United Nations World Food Program is leveraging a blockchain technology startup to track school lunches in Tunisia, so that each child is fed. The blockchain startup, Devery, is working with the UN World Food Program, along with the Tunisian Ministry of Education to implement a blockchain-based tracking system for its school meals program. Through this three-way partnership, the initial roll out will feed 1,500 primary school kids, with the goal of ultimately rolling out to the scheme to all 400,000 Tunisian school children currently receiving food assistance. Maria Lukyanova “This project is allowing…

Ghana to host conference on Domestic Revenue Mobilisation

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The Ministry of Finance (MoF), the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are jointly organising a conference on, “Moving Beyond Aid: Domestic Revenue Mobilisation for G-20 Compact with Africa (CWA) countries. The two-day conference which will be held from 4th to 5th April in Accra will bring together senior government officials, representatives of revenue agencies from eight countries namely, Benin, CĂŽte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia. A joint press statement issued by the organisers said development partners, experts and representatives of…

Tunisia’s Dinar Must Weaken Further to Boost Economy, IMF Says

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-Nation’s currency depreciated 19% against the euro last year -Economy is still struggling seven years after Arab Sprin Tunisia’s dinar must weaken further this year if the North African country is to boost exports and revive an economy battered by political upheaval since its 2011 uprising, the International Monetary Fund said.  “I don’t think that we need to see a big downward movement to equilibrium, I think we are not too far from it,” Björn Rother, the IMF’s Tunisia mission chief, said in a telephone interview. “I also don’t think we need…

ITFC celebrates 10th anniversary in Tunisia

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The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Monday. The celebration was held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Tunis, and attended by the governors of the IDB member countries, official delegations and a number of representatives from the private sector and civil society. The event comes on the sidelines of the 43rd meeting of the board of governors of the IDB, which was held in Tunisia on Sunday under the theme “Partnerships for Sustainable Development.” ITFC CEO…

Tunisia’s Tourism Revenues Grow 23% In First Quarter

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Tunisia’s tourism revenues rose 23% year-on-year in the first three months of 2018, the government said on Tuesday (April 3), as the sector recovers from two militant attacks on holidaymakers in 2015. Tourism minister Salma Loumi forecast last month that arrivals would reach a record 8 million this year, fully reversing the damage inflicted by the attacks. “Revenues rose by 23% from 371 million dinars ($153 million) in the first three months of 2017 to 457 million dinars ($188 million) in the first three months of 2018,” the tourism ministry…

Google to train 4,000 Mideast journalists amid mounting criticism of tech giants

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Google will train 4,000 journalists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by the end of next year, a senior executive said at the Arab Media Forum in Dubai. The news comes as US technology giants come under increasing pressure over their impact on traditional media, the spread of “fake news,” and their wider impact on society. Carlo Biondo, the regional president of strategic partnerships at Google, told Arab News that it was not too late for Google to help improve its relationship with the media. “We continuously look…

Expert Explains Reason Behind Decline in Number of Migrants to Europe

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The number of migrants who arrived in Italy in 2018 has decreased by 75% compared to the same period last year. The country’s interior ministry has reported that the number of arrivals from Libya has dropped. Sputnik discussed the issue of illegal migrants travelling to Italy with Paolo Salom, political observer with Corriere della Sera. Sputnik: What do you think is the primary reason behind the decline in the number of migrants to Italy has been? Paolo Salom: The main reason is the way that the government of Italy reached an agreement with the governments of a few…