Year: 2018

Partnerships key to promoting economic empowerment for rural women in the MENA region

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The economic empowerment of rural women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was the topic of a side-event organized by the governments of Italy and Tunisia, in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UN Women and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The event featured a range of high-level speakers from Italy, the MENA region, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, and was moderated by Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations in New York. “Women face several barriers…

Migrants: Italian naval ship San Giusto berths in Tunisia

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The Italian naval ship San Giusto is in Tunisia for the second time as part of the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean – EUNAVFOR Med operation Sophia, of which Tunisia  is a partner, ANSAmed reports in its website. San Giusto is berthed in La Goulette. EU ambassador in Tunisia, Patrice Bergamini, and Sophia commander Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino, said at a joint press conference that the EU naval mission launched on May 18, 2015, served to combat migrant trafficking and save lives in the Mediterranean, according to the source. “This…

New combined cycle power plant for Tunisia

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A groundbreaking ceremony has taken place for a new gas-fired combined cycle power plant has been laid in Tunisia. The $340m Rades C plant is about 10 km east of the capital, Tunis, and will have a capacity of 450 MW. Initial gas turbine operation is scheduled to be finished before summer 2019, with combined cycle full operation expected a year later, at which time the plant will provide about 10 per cent of Tunisia’s total power generating capacity. The plant is being built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems…

Spokesman: Libya Seizes Tanker Suspected Of Fuel Smuggling, Arrests Crew

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Libya’s naval forces seized a Togo-flagged fuel tanker and arrested its Greek crew on suspicion they planned to smuggle oil out of the North African country, a spokesman for the forces said on Thursday. Libya’s western coast is a departure point for the smuggling of heavily subsidised gasoline to neighbours such as Tunisia and Malta, where retail prices are much higher. “The naval forces seized a Togo-flagged oil tanker in the territorial waters without permissions from the state of Libya. It has the name LAMAR,” naval forces spokesman Ayoub Qassem…

Xodus Delivers Tunisian Decommissioning study for TPS

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Xodus Group has delivered a decommissioning and abandonment study for wells, surface and subsea facilities in Tunisia on behalf of Thyna Petroleum Services (TPS). Xodus developed a decommissioning cost estimate for four onshore fields, one offshore field and two onshore storage and processing sites. The six-week study provided a high-level risk and opportunities assessment and reviewed regulatory and environmental aspects for facility and infrastructure removal. The scope of work also included the creation of an asset register, the development of an abandonment strategy and site remediation in line with current…

World Happiness Report: Tunisia ranks 111th out of 156 countries

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Tunisia ranks 111th in the World Happiness Report 2018 with 4,592 points, TAP reports It is an annual report published by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network and as a relatively new survey of the state of happiness in the world of 2018, gives an idea of the state of the world’s countries per the resulting ranking of 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of their immigrants, the source added. The report covers the period from 2015 to 2017. According to the report, Tunisia…

Nigeria, Tunisia to strengthen bilateral relations

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Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has stressed the need to strengthen the bilateral relations that exist between Nigeria and Tunisia. The two countries are to strengthen relations especially in the areas of trade, economy and technology. Mr. Onyeama made the call at a business forum preceding Nigeria-Tunis Joint Ministerial Commission in Abuja. The Minister said that the two-day meeting marked another milestone in the bilateral relations between the two countries. ‘‘We appreciate the impressive development that had taken place in Tunisia which had really catapulted the country to…

Tunisia joins AEFMP airspace overhaul initiative

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Air traffic control agencies from Algeria, France, Morocco, Portugal and Spain have joined with Tunisia in their commitment to optimise their respective airspaces in line with modernisation initiatives such as the Single European Sky (SES) project. The initiative called AEFMP dates back to the EFP Plan created by Spain, France and Portugal in 1990 which aimed to optimise, harmonise and integrate air navigation systems, following the principles established in Eurocontrol EATCHIP programme. In 1996, it was decided that the initiative would be extended to Algeria and Morocco to optimise the main transit flows in the…

Libyan Navy Saves 121 Migrants Stranded at Sea

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Libyan naval forces on Thursday announced the rescue of 121 undocumented migrants who were found aboard a life raft off the coast of the Abu-Kammash border area with Tunisia.  The migrants, including one child and 24 women, were discovered at sea on Wednesday roughly 25 kilometers north of Abu-Kammash,the navy said in a statement. Of different African nationalities, they were taken to a naval base in Tripoli for medical treatment before being handed over to Libya’s anti-illegal immigration agency. In recent years, Libya’s northern coast has become a hub for…

Moody’s downgrades Tunisia’s rating to B2, outlook changed to stable

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Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the long-term issuer rating of the Government of Tunisia to B2 from B1. The outlook was changed to stable from negative. Moody’s has also downgraded the foreign currency senior unsecured debt rating of the Central Bank of Tunisia to B2 from B1 and changed the outlook to stable from negative, in addition to downgrading the senior unsecured shelf/MTN rating to (P)B2 from (P)B1.The key drivers for the downgrade are Moody’s expectations that the further erosion in fiscal strength and foreign exchange reserve buffers will…