Day: November 21, 2017

Members of Libyan parliament signal backing for U.N. transition proposals

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Libya’s eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to approve some U.N. proposals aimed at unifying the divided North African nation, although major obstacles remain for a deal to stabilize the oil producer. The U.N. launched a new round of talks in September to end years of turmoil in Libya following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and unite the rival governments and parliaments in Tripoli and the east.  Choosing the members of the presidency and the government, and settling the question of military leadership are seen as the biggest hurdles to any deal.…

Horizon 2020: information day on funding opportunities in Tunisia

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An Information Day on funding opportunities under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme will be held tomorrow, 21 November in the Tunisian city of Gabès. The event will bring together researchers from national-leading research centres and practitioners interested in the H2020 programme.  Since its association with Horizon 2020 (the EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) in 2016, Tunisia has been stepping up its efforts to improve the participation of its institutions in the programme. To this purpose, a special Programme Management Unit for Research and Innovation (PMURI) has been…

Tunisia obtains observer status of West African bloc

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Tunisia has just obtained observer status in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemais Jhinaoui told reporters here on Monday. Jhinaoui also announced the signing of an agreement protocol with the West African intergovernmental organization to put in place an economic roadmap between Tunisia and this African body. The protocol requires the implementation of an action plan that defines the sectors involved in this multilateral economic partnership, including agriculture, trade and development. “For the moment, Tunisia will take part, as an observer, in the next…

Tunisian and Egyptian tourism rebounds from adversity

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Along the brightly lit alleys of the World Travel Market (WTM) exhibition at London’s Excel centre this month, it seemed experts on every stand had a story to tell. For Caribbean islands, ravaged by hurricanes in September, the talk was of overcoming the legacy of natural disasters causing hundreds of deaths and damage estimated in the billions of dollars. The region attracted a record 30 million visitors in 2016 and predicts further growth this year, although market expansion is expected to slow down following the hurricanes. On other stands, economic…

Assessing Tunisia’s Performance: Slow Progress in a Turbulent Region

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Tunisia’s future will be shaped by the capacity of its leaders to introduce smart and innovative reforms. The Libyan crisis just across the border has had a huge impact on the small North African country, making the Tunisia-Libya interplay more complex – in contrast to Tunisia’s relations with Algeria, which were helpful to enact bold actions against terrorism. A number of defining events took place over the summer and early autumn this year in Tunisia. First, President Beji Caid Essebsi’s asked the National Assembly to allow Tunisian women to marry…