Month: August 2020

Biodiversity: Artificial intelligence at the service of safeguarding plant heritage

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Tunisia has about 2;700 plant species. However, data on these plants is scarce and difficult to access for the general public. With this in mind, a project to digitise the herbarium of the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia (INAT) was launched in April 2019. It is a project financed by the Global Environment Facility’s Microfinance Programme (GEF/MFP) and is part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is implemented in the framework of a collaboration between the sustainable development association “Research in Action (REACT)”, Tunisia Ecotourism Network (TEN), the…

Enactus INSAT wins “Enactus Tunisia Online National Competition for 2020”

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The 12th edition of the National Competition of Enactus Tunisia was held online, organised with the assistance of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. This annual event was held on August 24, 25 and 26 on the Facebook page “Enactus Tunisia” and brought together more than 11,000 people online between students, business leaders and university teachers. Results of the 2020 National Competition National Champion: Enactus INSAT Vice-champion: Enactus Esprit ICT 3rd place: Enactus ENET’Com 4th place: Enactus IHEC Carthage Team Leader Of the Year: Mustapha Ghouili, Enactus ISG Tunis Faculty Advisor Of…

Tunisia: record estimates for olive oil exports

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Tunisian olive oil exports for the current season, totalling about 340,000 tonnes of product, will generate record revenue of more than two billion dinars (about 619,671,034 euros), compared to 1.2 billion dinars last year, said President of the Tunisian Oil Office (ONH), Chokri Bayoudh, saying that the revenue should contribute 4.25% to the country’s state budget. Tunisian olive oil exports, by late July 2020, reached nearly 294,000 tonnes worth 1.7 billion dinars, compared to 100,000 tonnes at a value of 1.2 billion dinars the previous season, Bayoudh told Tunisian news…

Project Innov’i -EU4 Innovation: New call for projects “Tech Tunisia” launched

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The project “Innov’i -EU4 Innovation” launches a new call for innovators to present their projects under the innovative entrepreneurship support fund “Tech Tunisia”, which has a total budget of 1 million euros (over 3 million dinars), TAP reported. Funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France, this project aims to support the strengthening, structuring and sustainability of the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation in Tunisia and to improve the service offer for start-ups and entrepreneurs through backing up support structures in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation. The…

“Keep Your Eye On the Sea” campaign for reducing plastic in Mediterranean

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A campaign respecting Sustainable Development Goals Keep Your  Eye on your sea: awareness campaign for preserving Ghar El Melh Every year, the Movement for a Clean and Green Tunisia, in cooperation with the “Biaa News” magazine, organizes awareness campaigns for the benefit of children, to preserve the sea and prevent plastic waste throwing. This initiative aims at extending awareness and educational messages mainly with the slogan, “swim here, but leave your place clean.” “The sea is our pleasure, everyone enjoys it and must be kept clean.”  It is noteworthy that…

Libyan market may reopen for Tunisian agricultural products next week (UTAP)

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The Libyan market may reopen for Tunisian agricultural products next week, Ibrahim Trabelsi, a member of the Executive Office of the Tunisian Union for Agriculture and Fisheries (UTAP) in charge of Fruit Trees and Maghreb trade said Friday. The Libyan market has been closed to Tunisian fruit, vegetables, and fisheries products for nearly a month due to the effects of the Coronavirus and payment conditions imposed by the Libyan state. Speaking to TAP, Trabelsi said that Libyan importers were very keen for the resumption of Tunisian agricultural products. TunisianMonitorOnline

China donates new batch of medical aid to Tunisia

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China on Thursday donated a new batch of medical aid to Tunisia to help its fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese Embassy in Tunisia announced in a statement that the donation included 100,000 medical masks. It added that China is keen to continue strengthening its cooperation with Tunisia to fight the pandemic together. Before the donation, Tunisia had already received several batches of medical aid from the Chinese government, Chinese foundations and companies since late March to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. TunisianMonitorOnline

Transport: new ro-ro shipping between Marina Carrara-Sousse

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A new shipping line for the transport of wheeled cargo was implemented this week between Marina di Carrara, Italy, and Sousse, Tunisia, said the maritime shipping industry website Shipping Italy. It said the ship making the route is the Vasaland, a roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) for carrying vehicles that are loaded and disembarked on their own wheels. The chartered ship is 155 metres long and has 2,170 linear metres of capacity for wheeled cargo. Nikkos. Frangos, managing director of the new Cypriot shipping company Anarres Shipping, said the new route will run…

COVID-19: Tunisia launches vaccine research

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Tunisia’s Institut Pasteur has launched researches to come up with an anti-COVID-19 vaccine, Tunisian media reports. Hechmi Louzir, Head of the Tunis-based non-profit health organization indicated that a team of the institute has begun working on a vaccine using the DNA technology. Louzir added that a committee from the ministry of health has been established to monitor global researches on the production of a vaccine as well as on the latest findings and the clinical trials. Tunisia thus joins the small circle of countries working to come up with a…

Migrant crossings in central Mediterranean more than doubled in July, EU agency says

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Sea migration in the central Mediterranean rose sharply last month, partly fueled by an exodus from Tunisia, the European Union’s border agency Frontex said Tuesday. Frontex said 4,650 migrants arrived in Italy and Malta last month, more than double the June figure, “in large part due to a significant rise in the number of irregular migrants departing from Tunisia.” On Monday, Italian and EU officials visited Tunis to offer financial support in return for more stringent border controls by Tunisian authorities. Overall, Frontex said there were 8,650 illegal border crossings…