Trade deficit narrows to 1,211.7 MD in January 2018 (INS)

The trade balance deficit has narrowed slightly to 1,211.7 million dinars (MD) in January 2018, compared with 1,221.8 million dinars a year earlier, TAP reports. The coverage rate, therefore, recorded a significant improvement of 7.2 points to 72.1% against 64.8% in January 2017, TAP reports the   National Institute of Statistics (INS) announcement. The non-energy balance of the trade deficit was reduced to 858 MD and the deficit in the energy balance was 353.7 MD (29.2% of the total deficit) against 309.2 MD during the same period in 2017. According to…

Thomas Cook’s Tunisia programme ‘very well-booked’ ahead of relaunch next week

Thomas Cook’s group chief executive says its Tunisia programme – which recommences on February 13 – is “very well-booked”. The programme will start with 16 hotels and three weekly flights to Enfidha, from Manchester, London Gatwick and Birmingham, expanding to include Glasgow from April and Newcastle and London Stansted from May – six flights per week. “We are carefully going in, we feel well prepared,” Peter Fankhauser told a media call following Thomas Cook Group’s first quarter trading announcement. “They [flights and hotels] are very well-booked so there is a…

Tunisia receiving financial, institutional aid for pilot shrimp farms from China

The Chinese Commerce Ministry is funding a series of pilot projects to assess the feasibility of large-scale shrimp farming in northern Africa, SeafoodSource reports. A group of experts from the China Academy of Fishery Sciences went to Tunisia recently to assess and advise on the local technical capacity for a large-scale shrimp farm, according to a statement from the academy. The technical feasibility study group, led by the academy’s deputy chairman, Liu Ying Jie, met officials from the Tunisia Ocean Research Institute (INSTM) and the country’s Aquaculture Technical Centre (CTA) to discuss…

Deals on diplomatic training program, economic cooperation inked between China and Tunisia

China signed Tuesday two agreements with Tunisia to launch a diplomatic training program and boost the bilateral economic and technical partnership, Xinhua reports. The deals were signed in Tunis by Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Khemais Jhinaoui and Qian Keming, visiting Chinese vice minister of commerce. Under the deals, the two countries will launch a program dubbed “Diplomatic Academy of Training and Studies,” and China will invest a total of 32 million US dollars in Tunisia’s economic and technical development. The diplomatic academy will provide training for Tunisia’s officials in…