Day: November 16, 2016

COP 22: Tunisia takes action to combat climate change

BGMN

Despite political and economic changes since January 2011, Tunisia placed emphasis on challenges of climate change by the ratification last October of the Paris Agreement. The Tunisian approach for the fight against climate change lays in the Tunisian conviction of the need to achieve sustainable development on the basis of a model that allows for maximised natural resources and economic resilience to climate change. As part of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) in Marrakesh, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed shed light…

Abbassi calls on trade unionists to show reason

BGMN

Faced with a year 2017 marked by the opening of several delicate and hot files, Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), Houcine Abbassi called on trade unionists to show “reason” and prevail the ” Interest of the country. Speaking on Wednesday at the closure of the National Constitutional Conference of the Department of Offices and Public Enterprises, Abbassi said that the year 2017 will be busy and will be marked by the opening of several delicate and hot files requiring bold and energetic decisions in order to save…

Tunisia ranks 1st in Africa at “Global Entrepreneurship Index 2017”

BGMN

Tunisia topped the “Global Entrepreneurship Index 2017” at the African level and climbed 20 places, compared to last year, at the global scale thus ranking 42nd ahead of Italy, India, China and Russia. In this ranking published by the “Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute” (GEDI), a research organisation that advances knowledge on links between entrepreneurship, economic development and prosperity based in Washington, Morocco (70th globally) and Algeria (73rd) are ranked 5th and 6th respectively at the continental level whilst Egypt (81st) is ranked 8th. Moreover, the United States is ranked…

Food trade balance in Tunisia posts 884 MTD deficit

BGMN

The food trade balance posted in the first ten months of 2016 a deficit of 884 MTD, that is 8.2% of the overall trade deficit, against a surplus of 143.3 MTD in the same period last year. The coverage of imports by exports stood at 71.1% against 104.6% in the same period in 2015, the Agriculture Ministry Tuesday indicated in a press release. This is due to a drop of 33.1% in the value of food exports in comparison with 1.5% in imports.  Food exports were down 33.1% in the…

French ‘bottom of the class’ for English fluency

BGMN

According to an annual survey published in Euobserver’s report, the French rank the lowest in the EU for proficiency in speaking English. France came 29th overall in the list of 72 countries where English is not the principal spoken language, compiled by teaching firm Education First (EF). But in the mini-league of 19 EU states included in the survey, France came bottom. Much poorer EU countries such as Romania (20) and Bulgaria (24) outdid the French. At the other end of the scale, the Dutch knocked the Swedes off their perch as…

Trump aims to ease Asian allies’ qualms when he meets Japan’s Abe

BGMN

Donald Trump is expected to use his first meeting with a foreign leader as U.S. president-elect this week to try to reassure Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Asian allies rattled by his campaign rhetoric, advisers to Trump said. Abe, a political blue blood and veteran lawmaker, and Trump, a brash outsider with no diplomatic or government experience, have differences on policy issues such as free trade. But the two may find they have more in common when they meet in New York on Thursday, including pledges to restore…