Daley Thompson: ‘My best travel tip? Be nice to the person who serves you coffee on a plane’

How often do you travel? Once a month for work. I was in Spain and Switzerland recently. What do you need for a perfect holiday? Only two things: friends and family. They’d tell you I’m boring because I like to stick to my exercise routines. Your earliest memory of travelling abroad? I was 15 and it was a family holiday to Tunisia. I remember being excited about going on a plane for the first time. Tunisia was dirty and friendly – just like where I lived in Notting Hill Gate,…

Hafez Ghanem, Vice-President for MENA, World Bank, on factors to promote faster and stronger economic growth

How can Tunisia create a more inclusive growth model? GHANEM: Tunisia’s economic model has delivered positive outcomes and helped the country set up the building blocks of a healthy and productive economy. Yet, it has failed to include large segments of society, particularly youth, women and citizens from the interior regions. Achieving inclusive growth will require action on three fronts. First, education reform is very important to ensure that young people are prepared to seize economic opportunities and compete in a 21st-century marketplace. Tunisia, like other countries in the region,…

Madjed Berhoumi, “Any agreement must be concluded in perfect cohesion with all the stakeholders”

Madjed Berhoumi, political scientist, Director of Maghreb Research, Study and Documentation Centre said in an interview with Reporters that any agreement must be concluded in perfect cohesion with all the stakeholders. Interview :  Reporters: Two officials from Benghazi and Tripoli, Aguila Salah and Al Suweihili, have met recently for the first time in Rome. What importance is given to their meeting today? Madjed Behroumi: It is clear that this is an important meeting that brings together two major stakeholders in the Libyan political scene. It is a meeting between the…

French development chief: ‘SDGs apply to France in same way as Burkina Faso’

Development agencies have to change their dualist approach to Africa, as it does not correspond to the reality the continent is facing, the head of the French Development Agency told EURACTIV France. Rémy Rioux is chief executive of the French Development Agency (AFD). He previously worked for the foreign affairs ministry. Rioux spoke to EURACTIV.fr’s Cécile Barbière at the All Africa: The Issues of a Continent wide Approach event in Paris on 12 April. Your agency today organised an event aimed at changing the current perceptions of Africa. What is…

Tunisia’s Challenging Transition: An Interview with Mehrezia Labidi

“No political party, no political actor is able to lead Tunisia alone in this very sensitive and fragile period.” What do you see as the biggest challenge to the Tunisian transition six years after the revolution? Six years after the “Liberty and Dignity Revolution” in Tunisia, the biggest challenge is how to improve the economy. How to meet the expectations of our population regarding development, jobs, healthcare, transportation, education, and so on. This includes how to deliver on the promises of democracy, because our newborn democracy came after the revolution.…

Essebsi’s interview with Leaders Magazine: Tristate Summit to Resolve Libyan Crisis

President Beji Caid Essebsi said that  a tristate summit that includes Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia is being prepared to resolve the Libyan crisis. Essebsi announced that an initiative to  set the crisis in Libya has been launched, referring to meetings of ministries of foreign affairs that will take place ahead  of the upcoming summit. The President said during an interview with Leaders Magazine that “stability in Libya is of high importance” and that the Libyan issue  was discussed during his last meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. He laid emphasis…