EU and Tunisia agree to boost civil protection & disaster management cooperation

the European Commission signed Monday an administrative arrangement with Tunisia to boost ties in civil protection and disaster risk management. The document, signed at this year’s European Civil Protection Forum in Brussels, outlines key areas of cooperation on disaster prevention, preparedness, and response on issues such as forest fires, floods, and search and rescue missions. The signature of this arrangement is an important step in the reinforcement of the EU-Tunisia Privileged Partnership. On the occasion, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said: “Global challenges such as natural disasters require joint…

Information Day: “Horizon 2020 Programme” (Gafsa, 6th March 2018)

Since its association with the Horizon 2020 Programme (EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) in 2016, Tunisia is multiplying its efforts to improve the participation of its institutions in this Programme. To this purpose, a special Programme Management Unit Research and Innovation (PMURI), acting as Directorate-General, was created by decree n. 2016-955 at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR). As part of its mission, an Information Day covering Horizon 2020 funding opportunities is held on 6th March 2018. The event brings together researchers from national leading…

Tunisia unveils 2nd locally-manufactured patrol boat

Tunisia unveiled its second locally-manufactured patrol boat on Monday in the eastern port city of Sfax. The vessel was built by SCIN, a local shipbuilding company, under the supervision of Tunisian army officers and engineers. According to SCIN general manager Wasim Qawbaa, the patrol boat is 27 meters in length and is capable of travelling at speeds of up to 25 knots per hour. “The cost of building the ship domestically was 40 percent less than if it had been purchased from a foreign manufacturer,” Qawbaa said. The Tunisian navy commissioned its…

Tunisia central bank raises interest rates to reduce high inflation

The Central Bank of Tunisia raised its key interest rate to 5.75 percent from 5.0 percent on Monday to deal with  inflation that has hit the highest level since 1990. The increase of the interest rate is the first under new central bank governor Marwan El Abbasi, who pledged last month after his appointment was approved by parliament to take “extraordinary measures” to end an economic crisis and bring down inflation. Tunisia’s annual inflation rate rose to 7.1 percent in February from 6.9 percent in January, its highest reading for…

Ringing tribute to be paid to Professor Hichem Djait by Tunisian University

In a recent interview published by the Egyptian Arabic newspaper Al-Ahram, Tunisian historian Hichem Djait revealed that the Tunisian university will ultimately honour him, at the request of the Arab World Institute in Paris and as part of honouring some Arab thinkers. This initiative started with prominent Moroccan historian and novelist Abdullah al Aroui along with two Egyptians, namely Rochdi Rached, historian of Mathematics of Arab and Muslim world, Mustapha Safouan, specialist scientist in psychology. In fact, the honouring, after long years of retirement, is partly fair for Dr. Djait…

Export revenues of organic dates up 35%

Export revenues of organic dates for the current season jumped by 35.52%, compared with the last season. This upward trend is also the outcome of 21.01% leap  in the quantities exported, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries. The quantities of organic dates exported, since the start of the season (October 10, 2017) to March 2, 2018, managed to reach nearly 4.690,6 tonnes worth 34.8 million dinars (MD) against 3.876,1 tonnes which corresponded to 25.7MD during the same period of the previous season.…

Emmi profit growth accelerates on minority interests

Just-food presents the key metrics from company financials in bitesize format, with analyst insight and social media comment alongside graphs illustrating a business’ historical performance to give you an easy-to-read digest of the numbers you need to know. Swiss dairy company Emmi reported a 15% increase in full-year net profits due to a reduction in “minority interests”, which fell by CHF10.8m (US$11.5m), mainly related to Mittelland Molkerei. Commenting on the results, chief executive Urs Riedener said: “Emmi made up a good deal of ground in the second half of the…

Specific Support to Tunisia: kick-off meeting –

Setting research priorities and public-private cooperation in R&D The Specific Support to Tunisia will kick-off with a discussion on its two main focus areas – business participation in R&D activities and defining research priorities – and the schedule for a series of fact-finding visits to the country. The PSF team includes independent European R&I policy experts from Austria, Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland.  TunisianMonitorOnLine (European Commission)

Tunisia’s foreign exchange reserves are at ‘critical’ levels (experts)

The Tunisian Central Bank announced that the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to 11.3 billion Tunisian dinars, equivalent to about 4.6 billion dollars, which covers no more than 80 days of the value of the country’s imports, after it was covering 82 days. Experts said that this decline warns of many risks that Tunisia may face in case the reserves continue to fall to lower levels. The Central Bank attributed this decline to the country’s need to enhance the mobilization of  foreign exchange resources at the beginning of each year,…

China’s outbound trips reach 130 million

China’s outbound travel market raked up 130 million trips in 2017, a 7% increase on 122 million trips recorded in 2017. Thailand and Japan continue to be the two hottest outbound destinations. But with more flight connections, better exchange rates and fewer visa restrictions, destinations such as Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia are seeing a huge growth in visitors from China. The figures are highlighted in a Ctrip 2017 China Outbound Tourism Travel Report compiled with the  China Tourism Academy (CTA), a specialised institute under China National Tourism Administration. Recognised as…