Year: 2025

Carthage Film Festival Crowns Egyptian Film with Top Honor “Golden Tanit”

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The 36th edition of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC) concluded on Saturday evening at the Tunis Opera Theatre, with Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky’s film The Stories taking home the coveted Golden Tanit for best feature film. The festival, a cornerstone event for Arab and African cinema since 1966, presented a diverse slate of winners from across the Global South, rewarding bold artistic vision and compelling storytelling. Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. earned a double distinction, securing the Silver Tanit for My Father’s Shadow, which also won the Tahar Chériaa Prize for best…

Tunisian Olive Oil “Triomphe Thuccabor” Claims Top Honor at Prestigious Italian Competition

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The extra virgin olive oil “Triomphe Thuccabor” has secured the Extragold award at the BIOL ITALIA 2025 competition in Italy. The event, a key benchmark for quality in the sector, featured leading producers from across Europe. The award was presented at a prestigious competition organized by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, featuring leading producers from dozens of nations, including Spain and Italy. The contest specifically evaluates oils made from olives harvested early in the season, before mid-November, prized for their superior health benefits, nutritional value, and distinctive flavor. The Ben…

Maltese Tech Firm to Build 520 Million Euro Solar Plant in Southern Tunisia

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 Malta’s HandsOn Systems Ltd. has announced plans to construct a 350-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant in the Gafsa region of southern Tunisia. The total investment for the project is estimated at approximately 520 million euros. The advanced technology group, known for its GPS tracking, fleet management, and IoT platforms, confirmed the investment following a meeting on Thursday, December 18, 2025, between its delegation and Tunisia’s Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA-Tunisia). The delegation was led by the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Geoffrey Farrugia. While a precise timeline has not been finalized,…

Sharjah’s Cultural Vision Takes Center Stage at Tunis Poetry Festival

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 The tenth edition of the Kairouan Festival of Arabic Poetry opened under the Mediterranean stars at the historic Ennejma Ezzahra Palace on Friday, marking a decade of a pioneering cultural initiative born in the United Arab Emirates. The ceremony, attended by a gathering of diplomats, ministers, and literary figures, served as a powerful testament to the cross-border influence of Sharjah’s cultural projects. The festival is a flagship event of the “Houses of Poetry” network, an initiative launched by Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler…

EBRD Launches Landmark Green Finance Initiative in Tunisia with €10 Million Loan to UBCI

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is channeling a €10 million loan to Tunisia’s Union Bancaire pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (UBCI) to kickstart a new phase of green lending for local businesses, marking one of the first operations under its Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) in the country. The financing is designed to fuel Tunisia’s transition to a low-carbon economy by providing UBCI, a leading private bank with 102 branches nationwide, with capital to on-lend to private companies. A key focus will be supporting micro, small, and…

Foreign Minister to Attend Key Russia-Africa Forum in Cairo

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Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad Mohamed Ali Nafti will participate in the second ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum as instructed by President Kais Saied. The high-level meeting is scheduled for December 19-20, 2025, in Cairo, Egypt. This engagement underscores Tunisia’s firm commitment to African joint action and its policy of openness to international partnerships. The participation aims to bolster multilateral cooperation across various sectors to serve common interests and address shared global challenges. The conference agenda will focus on reviewing the implementation of the joint…

Qatar Charity Funds Modern Primary School in Gafsa to Alleviate Classroom Overcrowding

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The Governorate of Gafsa has formalized a partnership with Qatar Charity for the construction of a new, fully-equipped primary school. The agreement was signed Tuesday in a ceremony overseen by Gafsa Governor Mr. Slim Ferouja and Ms. Karima Boussalmi, Director of the Qatar Charity Office in Tunisia. The project targets the Al-Amal neighborhood in the Om Laarayes delegation, an area identified as needing enhanced schooling facilities. Slated for completion at an estimated cost of 3 million Tunisian dinars, the new institution is designed as a modern, integrated educational complex. Plans…

From Sochi to Cairo: Russia and Africa Seek to Reignite a Historic Partnership

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In the coming months, the Egyptian capital will become the diplomatic stage for a significant gathering, as foreign ministers from Russia and across Africa convene to chart the future of a relationship both describe as one of old friends seeking new horizons. This ministerial conference, slated for 2025, marks a first: the official meetings of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum will be held on African soil, a move agreed upon during the inaugural ministerial in Sochi a year prior. The Forum itself, established in 2019, has already overseen two major summits—in…

Tunisia Emerges as a Crucible for Africa’s Homegrown Innovation Model

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While global tech narratives often focus on scaling Silicon Valley blueprints, a more pragmatic and collaborative dynamic is taking root across Africa. The continent is forging its own innovation paradigm—one measured not by mere technological replication, but by solving local problems and boosting economic competitiveness. At the forefront of this shift is Tunisia, transforming from a startup producer into a structured laboratory for continent-wide co-innovation. This African model redefines traditional roles: startups as solvers of concrete industrial challenges, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leveraging innovation for growth, and the state…

ALECSO Launches Digital Training for Arab Education Coordinators

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The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) conducted a specialized virtual training session on December 17, 2020, for liaison officers from across the Arab world. The session aimed to enhance coordination and digital management capabilities within the region’s national education bodies. Officials from 16 Arab nations participated, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, and Yemen. The training focused on the use of ALECSO’s new interactive platform, designed to streamline communication and project management. Liaison…