Year: 2018

“South-South cooperation will only strengthen weight of our continent in the world”, says Equatorial Guinea President

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President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo announced Tuesday during his visit in Tunis that his country will open its embassy in Tunisia soon. He also announced an entry visa exemption for Tunisian citizens. The president is on his first state visit to Tunis, during which eight bilateral cooperation agreements were signed. The Equatorial Guinean President commended his visit to Tunisia as “historic and successful,” underlinng such a “South-South cooperation will only strengthen the weight of our continent in the world.” He said during a joint press conference with…

Tunisia expects up to 600,000 tourists from Russia in 2018 — minister

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The Tunisian authorities are interested in increasing the tourist flow from Russia and expect that up to 600,000 Russians can visit the country by the end of this year, Tunisian Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts Salma Elloumi Rekik told TASS on Tuesday in the run-up to her working visit to Moscow. “We expect to receive from 550,000 to 600,000 Russian tourists in 2018, which is a 6-percent increase compared to last year,” she said. “We have all the resources that are necessary to achieve that goal.” According to the minister,…

Tunisia Adopts Law to Promote Entrepreneurship, Digital Startups

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“A bill on the promotion of start-ups to encourage entrepreneurship with digital content has been adopted by the Cabinet meeting and will soon be tabled in the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) for approval,” Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Monday. Speaking at the closing of the Tunisian-Spanish business forum, held at the headquarters of the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), on the theme “Tunisia-Spain: Economic Reforms and Investments”, he recalled the major reforms initiated by the government to improve the climate, referring namely to the new…

Tunisian Maher Damak, MIT PhD student awarded in USA

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A tech using electrical fields to recapture water vapour that normally escapes from cooling towers attached to big power plants was invented by “Infinite Cooling” a startup co-founded by Maher Damak, a 28-year-old Tunisian, PhD Student in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Boston, USA. Water from the collected steam is recycled back into cooling. “Power plants consume a lot of water; they use this water for their cooling system. Currently, all this water is lost, as it evaporates from the towers of power plants. So…

TAYP retreat on “Activating Tunisian Diaspora in US” April 28-29 in New York

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The Tunisian American Young Professionals Association (TAYP) is organising its first retreat on April 28-29, 2018 in New York, at the prestigious Glen Cove Mansion Hotel, TAP reports. With the overarching theme of “Activating the Tunisian Diaspora in the US”, the retreat provides a space for the Tunisian community in Canada and the United States to take stock of its achievements and to brainstorm on how the diaspora can contribute to sustainable economic and social development in Tunisia, the source added. The event will provide a unique opportunity to gather…

Tunisia’s National career revenues up 29% in 2017

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Tunisia’s National career Tunisair’s passenger traffic increased by 17.1% in 2017 compared to 2016, making it possible to the airline company to improve its revenues by 29%, to more than 1,280 million dinars (MD) against 995.1 (MD) last year, with a market share (at Tunisian airports) of 41.8% against 39.8%, according to data published Saturday by the company. The passenger traffic (all activities combined) leaped from 2,991.841 to 3,502.475 passengers. Regular and additional traffic edged up by 11.6%, to 3,197.641 in 2017 and the charter and pilgrimage activity rose by…

Stock of reserves drops to 82 days of import (BCT)

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Since early 2018, the Stock of Reserves has been under heavy pressure, bringing it back to 82 days of import (equivalent to 1.161,0 MTD), as a result of the important currency settlements which Tunisia usually makes at the beginning of the year for the constitution of the stocks of raw materials, as well energy, food and industrial, meant to support the economic activity, in addition to the payments for the service of the debt, announces the Central Bank of Tunisia Friday in a statement. “However, the level of the stock…

Education Ministry to assume its responsibilities in rehabilitating public education and ensuring its quality

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Minister of Education Hatem Ben Salem announced Friday in Kasserine, in a statement to media, on the sidelines of the work of the regional council of education,  the key measures taken by the cabinet meeting held last Wednesday, on “the reality and the perspectives of the educational system in Tunisia “. The measures include  the establishment of a national school food bank with the contribution of the Ministry of Education and some large companies. Storage areas under this bank will be created throughout the Republic, which will be managed by…

Tunisia: Impact Partner to set an investment fund for SMEs

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Impact Partner will set an investment fund worth between TND500, 000 and TND2 million ($208,300 and $833,192). This was announced by Leila Charfi, the firm’s managing director, Ecofinagency reports. The firm which provides companies with financing and technical support to improve their financial profitability targets SMEs through this new initiative, the source said.  With this, Impact Partner expects to create jobs and reduce the unemployment rate in the country. “Beneficiary companies will have to hire 30 to 45 jobless people within 3 years,” she said. Impact Partner supports social entrepreneurs in pre and…

In Tunisia, preserving tradition in the last underground homes

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In the arid valleys of southern Tunisia’s Djebel Dahar region, people have lived for centuries in underground houses whose earthen casing provides protection against searing summer heat and winter winds. But in recent decades, rural depopulation has meant fewer people live in the homes, which are composed of rooms hewn into the walls of an excavated circular courtyard. The few remaining families say they are attached to the homes and the land or see no way of moving. “My father died, my mother died, the girls got married and I…