Year: 2017

Turkey to break new political, economic ground with Sudan, Erdoğan says during Africa tour

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On the first leg of his three-country tour, which will include Chad and Tunisia, President Erdoğan arrived in Sudan for a two-day visit. He said Turkey wants to bring the bilateral trade of $500 million with Sudan up to $1 billion as soon as possible, and that the two countries eye to reach $10 billion in the future. Turkey wants to increase its current $500-million bilateral trade volume with Sudan up to $1 billion as soon as possible, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at a joint press conference with Sudan’s…

33% less migrants arrived to Italy in 2017

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The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Italy has fallen 33% in 2017 compared to last year. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, Interior Minister Marco Minniti said on Wednesday that the number of migrants has fallen 33% this year compared to last year despite a slight rise in arrivals from Tunisia and Algeria this summer. This comes after UNHCR announced on Friday the evacuation of 162 highly vulnerable refugees from Libya to Italy, including unaccompanied children and women who had been held captive for extended periods…

Senior position for Tunisian women still below expectations

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A report was initiated recently as part of the project “Gender and Leadership in the Maghreb and the Mashreq”. It is implemented by UN Women, in partnership with the Prime Ministry and with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development of the French Republic (MAEDI). The report reveals that one in four women having a job in 2016 in the public service with a rate of 26% against 17% for men. It also indicates that the public service is one of the prime providers of…

Tunisia: Democratic but Precarious

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Seven Years After the Arab Spring, Tunisians Struggle to Stabilize Amid central Tunisia’s dry farmlands, the city of Sidi Bouzid bustled one recent day under warm autumn sunshine. Street vendors and shoppers jostled under the roof of a new, open-air market, selling and buying produce or cheap clothes. Seven years after an impoverished street vendor in this city immolated himself and ignited the Arab Spring revolutions, his homeland has achieved a precarious stability. By many measures the Arab world’s only democracy, Tunisia remains hobbled by corruption, unemployment and violent extremism.…

Tunisia threatened by loss of half of its agricultural lands by 2050

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A recent study by the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (part of the Presidency of the Republic) has predicted that the country will lose 50 per cent of its agricultural lands by 2050, Anadolu reports. The study, released Thursday, shows that 10% of Tunisians are threatened by food insecurity in the upcoming years and 96 per cent of the country’s area is directly and indirectly threatened by desertification. In a press statement, Neji Jalloul, head of the Institute, attributed the most important problems the agriculture is facing to the import of seeds…

Supporting local capital market and currency in Tunisia

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has supported the new modelling of a sovereign benchmark yield curve in Tunisia, a building block for developing capital markets in Tunisian dinar. The new curve was presented today in Tunis to the main stakeholders, including government officials, banks, primary dealers, brokers, and legal and accounting experts. As of 1 January 2018 market participants in Tunisia will start recording eligible portfolios at fair value, a transformational move that will align the market with international standards. The EBRD supported the Ministry of Finance,…

Defying Trump, over 120 countries at U.N. condemn Jerusalem decision

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More than 120 countries defied President Donald Trump on Thursday and voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, which is non-binding, nine voted against and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote. Trump’s threat appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the resolution than…

Swiss government lifts freeze on Egyptian assets, keeps Tunisian, Ukrainian assets

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 The Swiss Federal Council announced that it will end the freeze on the remaining $436m of frozen Egyptian assets, in a press statement on Wednesday. However, they extended the freeze on both Tunisian and Ukrainian assets.The Swiss Federal Council had frozen both Egyptian and Tunisian assets in the wake of the 2011 Arab spring uprisings and renewed them in 2016. In November, the Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that Switzerland has ended the judicial cooperation with Egypt to retrieve assets, funds, and money syphoned by ousted president Hosny Mubarak and…

Education system is stalling in Tunisia….. But I believe in potentials of Tunisians to overcome difficult juncture (Minister of Education)

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Education Minister Hatem Ben Salem said that the education sector is the most affected as it is raising true existential questions. This sector has brought hope for all the Tunisian people by providing the true social ladder allowing them to have an important place in society thanks to the public system. However, this system today is stalling because there is an accumulation of problems that must urgently be solved. This accumulation is due to overcrowding and Tunisia is not prepared since the sixties for this phenomenon which resulted into massification and negative…

Education system is stalling in Tunisia….. But I believe in potentials of Tunisians to overcome difficult juncture (Minister of Education)

MN BG

Education Minister Hatem Ben Salem said that the education sector is the most affected as it is raising true existential questions. This sector has brought hope for all the Tunisian people by providing the true social ladder allowing them to have an important place in society thanks to the public system. However, this system today is stalling because there is an accumulation of problems that must urgently be solved. This accumulation is due to overcrowding and Tunisia is not prepared since the sixties for this phenomenon which resulted into massification and negative…