Tunisia's Ben Ali wins fifth mandate

Tunisia's President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been re-elected for a fifth, five-year term, with 89.28 percent of votes, the Interior Ministry announced at dawn Monday. Though still a landslide, it was Ben Ali's lowest score since he took power in a bloodless palace coup in 1987 that authorities dub "The Change." He was last re-elected in 2004 with more than 94 percent of votes — a drop from his previous victories, which fluctuated between 99.2 and 99.7 percent.

His latest score reflected the increased space allowed to the opposition. Runner-up Mohamed Bouchiha won 5.01 percent of votes, and Ahmed Inoubli 3.80 percent. Both candidates were viewed as largely cosmetic opposition. The third candidate, Ahmed Brahim of the Ettajdid, or change movement, who presented himself in the campaign as "a real opposition candidate," scored 1.57 percent of votes.

Tunisians also chose 214 lawmakers for the lower house of parliament in Sunday's presidential and legislative elections. Ben Ali's Constitutional and Democratic Rally, or RCD, which has been continuously in power since Tunisia's independence in 1956, won 161 seats. A sprinkling of small opposition and independent parties shared the remaining 53. Hard-line opposition groups and Islamists are outlawed and did not take part in the elections.

AP

Tunisia ranked first in North Africa in a report on good governance

Tunisia continues to receive favourable ratings in international reports. Following the latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report where Tunisia was ranked first in Africa and in the Maghreb, Tunisia is ranked first in North Africa, in the annual report on good governance recently published by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The report credits Tunisia with an overall score of 71.5 points out of 100.

Tunisia is credited with excellent scores on the strength of its performance in terms of “human development,” “transparency and rule of law” and the “climate of security”, with scores of 89, 70.5 and 100 points respectively. Tunisia comes ahead of Algeria (7th), Morocco (12th), Egypt (18th) and Libya (21st).

The third annual report published by the Kennedy School of Governance which is part of Harvard’s school of political sciences, focuses this year on “Strengthening Governance in Africa”. The rankings were established on the basis of 57 indexes of good governance centred on such determinants as security, transparency, rule of law, participation and human rights, economic stability and human development.

The report stresses the correlation between good governance, on the one hand, and development and security of each country, on the other.

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Sustainable growth in Tunisia

Tunisia had spent around 0.6 percent of its GDP in supporting the companies affected by the global financial crisis, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi , Tunisia's prime minister, said during Emerging Markets Summit in London organized by Economist.

At the beginning of the current year, Tunisia set up a strategy to cope with the international crisis. As part of this vision, measures have been taken to help the national enterprises to preserve the growth of the Tunisian economy, Mr Ghannouchi told Global Arab Network in an interview on the sideline of the summit.

Mr Ghannouchi added: “one more important programme of investments established in order to develop modern motorway, wide railway network, construct 2 power stations of 400 MW each, build an oil refinery in south of the country, launch a phosphate plant and create a deep-waters seaport.

All these investments were spent with the purpose of boosting local demand and offer better business opportunities. The prime minister assured that his government is working to integrate Tunisia's economy into global market by implementing a programme with support of the European Union’s fund, World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The aims of this programme are to make sure that all businesses are able to reduce transaction costs, optimise foreign trade measures and improve access to financial market. Moreover, Tunisia empowered business environment to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) to its expanding sectors such as information and communication technologies, health, car industry, and electronics.

Mr Ghannouchi told Reuters News Agency “Tunisia's growth is likely to reach 3-3.5 percent this year and at least 4 percent in 2010. Before (the global crisis) we were on a path to grow 6 percent, this year our growth will be between 3 and 3.5 percent,” "In comparison with -4.0 percent for Europe, it is still positive and encouraging," Ghannouchi said.

Tunisia was looking for growth of 4 percent in 2010, he said, but a further improvement in the global outlook would help the domestic picture. He said, "We can do even better if the world recovery is faster."

Ghannouchi said that the country was trying to diversify its exports, with more direction towards Africa and the Maghreb region, the Middle East and North Africa. Tunisia, the North African country of 10 million people, relies on exports of manufactured goods and services, mostly to the European Union.

He said the government planned to make its currency, the dinar, fully convertible. "I do hope to make sure it's converted as soon as reachable. We have made a lot of progress in that area."

Ghannouchi continued that he hoped international institutions would move fast to disburse an extra $850 billion in resources decided for the International Monetary Fund at the G20 Summit April 2009. "We hope the measures agreed in London will be implemented effectively and as soon as possible."
He said that the trade exchange forces had been seriously shaken by the international financial crisis. The recession, which strongly hit the developed countries, had found its reflection in a great decline of foreign demand and a drop of approximately 12% of the world goods and services trade, compared with a sustainable growth during the last 25 years.
Ghannouchi stressed during the conference that he would like to see closer cooperation between European Union and MENA region. He emphasized that 1% growth in the southern Mediterranean countries reflected in 0.2 percent growth in the north-bank of the Mediterranean.
The Union for the Mediterranean, a project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was launched last year as a platform for regular gatherings among its 43 countries, with the EU providing financial and technical support to accelerate reforms and develop closer ties. "We want the union to come into practice immediately, as strong sign, in order to establish more harmonious policies between South and North of the Mediterranean and eventually to achieve collective prosperity," Ghannouchi concluded.

Despite the global crisis, Tunisia has managed to preserve its economy, maintain the growth and retain the lead among the North African countries, according to the World Economic Forum Report 2009/2010. These achievements place Tunisia among the emerging countries as a model of success.

Global arab network

Algeria woos investors to unlock tourism potential

Algeria announced on Monday it was slashing taxes on tourism projects to persuade investors that the country, emerging from years of violence, could become a hot new holiday destination. Algeria has thousands of kilometers (miles) of Mediterranean coastline a short flight from Europe and vast tracts of Saharan desert wilderness -- yet only a trickle of foreign tourists. Attacks by Islamist militants, though dramatically reduced in the past few years, have kept many visitors away, along with a lack of investment that has left oil-producing Algeria with a shortage of high-quality restaurants, resorts and hotels.

Tourism and Environment Minister Cherif Rahmani unveiled reforms that included tax cuts for tourist firms, low-interest bank loans for tourism investments, reduced customs tariffs, subsidised land and streamlined bureaucratic procedures. "Of course we are aware that we are not yet at a world-class level, but we are in the process, little by little, of building Algeria as a destination," he told a conference. "We are going to put ourselves in a competitive position in relation to our neighbors, in terms of Algeria's attractiveness," he said.

Despite increases in tourist numbers in the past few years, Algeria lags far behind neighboring Tunisia and Morocco. Eight million people visited Morocco in 2008, while Tunisia recorded 7 million tourists. The two countries have attracted millions of dollars in foreign tourism investment, much of it from Europe and the Gulf states. Algerian government figures show that in 2006, the latest year for which data was available, there were 1.64 million tourists. Only 29 percent were foreigners, while the rest were Algerian emigres visiting relatives.

Algeria's government is keen to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, which accounts for 97 percent of its exports. It also wants to create jobs -- 7 out of 10 people under the age of 30 are unemployed.

Reuters

Tunisians begin to discuss presidential elections

Months before the October presidential elections, the Tunisian street is already speculating on the winner.

Some politicians and political analysts predict President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali will win, given his long time in office and the resources he can mobilise for his campaign, yet others insist that the elections will provide equal chances so that any of the five candidates can sweep the votes.

"President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali relies on a strong party that has bases across the entire Tunisian soil," said political analyst Salah Ataia, "something that will enable him to launch a strong campaign with known mechanisms that a party in office possesses." It is a fact Ben Ali for which should not be blamed, according to Ataia. "On the other hand, we find divided opposition parties that have wasted the chance to ally and participate with a common agenda. Elections in all countries are the cap of a political and media battle that extends for years. However, in Tunisia, party activities are few and slow."

Khalid Haddad, founder of a website specialising in politics, agreed with Ataia. "There are certain factors that can't be ignored," he said. "The first factor is related to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, candidate of the ruling party, and his decisive and historical roles in the march of the country, achieving stability and the many gains that have been made. [Though these] hide certain shortcomings in some fields, such as the inequality of distribution of the fruits of national wealth and the slowness of political development in the country, in my opinion, this is a natural in all human experiences."

Khalid Haddad said that the electoral process itself might confuse voters. "There are some people who say that they will run to compete against Ben Ali on an equal footing. I think that this is a sort of manipulation of voters' feelings to deceive them into believing in something that is not currently possible, which is the ability and readiness of the opposition to rule the country."

Magherabia...

Tunisian militants attacking Iraq

The top U.S. military commander in the Mideast says attacks in Iraq will continue for some time, and they may be the work of a network of foreign fighters from Tunisia.
U.S. Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs) told a House panel Friday that four recent suicide bombers in Iraq were from Tunisia. He said officials have captured one who planned an attack.He said the Tunisian militants have returned to Iraq in the last several months as the number of Iraqi suicide bombers have dwindled. Petraeus cited some successes in Iraq, but he cautioned that progress continues to be fragile and reversible.
AP

Growing trade in services and investment between EU - MPCs

The EU has been a driving force in trade in services with the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs), which grew between 2000 and 2005 faster than trade in goods - 45% compared to 23% for exports and 77% compared to 37% for imports – according to a new publication from the MEDSTAT II project titled “European Union – Mediterranean countries: growing trade in services and investment”.

Regarding services, Europe is a dominant trading partner of Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. However, its importance as a trading partner is clearly lower in the case of Israel and Lebanon.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from Europe have also accounted for a significant share of total FDI in this region for several years now, with Turkey in particular having attracted considerable investment in 2005 and 2006.

The publication, available in English, French and Arabic, is part of the Eurostat collection "Statistics in Focus" (SiF), presenting key data and limited analysis on a specific theme.

MEDSTAT II, funded by EuropeAid's Regional Programme, aims at strengthening the capacity of the Partner Countries' National Statistics Institutes and each country's own National Statistical System in order to provide updated, timely, reliable and relevant high-quality statistical data necessary for political decision-making and to ensure good governance.

Noor Islamic Bank sets up Tunisia operation

Noor Islamic Bank announced Saturday that it is opening premises in Tunis to offer sharia-compliant financial services across North Africa.

Chief executive officer Hussein al-Qemzi said the group, which had a market capitalisation of 3.16 billion dollars (two billion euros) in March having started operations in Dubai early this year, will target clients in Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania and Morocco, as well as Tunisia, from its new base.

Qemzi said Tunisia offered "economic opportunities, stability, a legislative framework and a favourable geographic location." Emirates investors have ploughed more than 22 billion dollars into Tunisia, which predicts annual growth rates of six percent over the next decade.

Qemzi underlined that services would meet the basic principle of Islamic finance, which is the prohibition of Riba (usury), correlated with interest in today's banking. Islamic funds are also banned from investing in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol, pornography, pork or gambling, all considered taboo by devout Muslims.

The Islamic finance industry worldwide is worth around 700 billion dollars, Moody's Investors Services estimated in a February report. Islamic products, which were first sought to help pious Muslims in managing their wealth, have proved popular with non-Muslims in the United Arab Emirates where expatriate oil workers, for instance, have found Islamic mortgage rates attractive.

Profit-sharing is a typical way for Islamic banking to deal with interest considerations. A high-level committee of Muslim scholars meets regularly to interpret issues raised by financial instruments, using a variety of sources from the Koran through to modern-day Muslim law to settle debates.
AFP

Tunisian police fire on rioting youths

Police fired guns to disperse hundreds of youths rioting over joblessness and rising living costs in southwest Tunisia, leaving one dead and several injured, government and labour union officials said.

The security forces came under assault from thrown flammable objects and were obliged to intervene to neutralise certain people who were making them," said an official in Tunis who declined to be named.

Reuters

Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean

Projects to clean up the Mediterranean Sea, establish new sea routes and highways, and harness solar energy could be at the heart of new European efforts to engage with southern neighbors, according to the first set of concrete proposals published Tuesday.

Less than two months before the debut of a new Union for the Mediterranean, pioneered by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the European Commission sought to put its stamp on the plan with a series of recommendations.

While its call for big spending projects in the region will be welcomed in Paris, the document issued Tuesday also proposes a further dilution of Sarkozy's original aim of giving the European Union's southern states a bigger role in the venture than northern EU counterparts. ...

What is not disputed is the thinking behind the plan: that previous initiatives have largely failed. Since 1995 the EU has engaged with southern neighbors through the so-called Barcelona Process but with few tangible results.

The new document concedes that the Barcelona Process suffered from "weak visibility and the perception by citizens that little is done to tackle their daily problems and real needs." European diplomats hope the new organization, known officially as the "Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean," will give southern Mediterranean countries a greater stake because they will be on a level of parity with the EU.

Critics point out that a central problem will remain: the diverse southern Mediterranean membership, which includes Syria and Israel.

The commission said the new union should hold summit meetings every two years, but avoided endorsing any location for its headquarters. Tunis, however, has emerged as a prime candidate. The commission called for two parallel sets of co-presidencies - to be held by France for an initial six months on the EU side. Thereafter this would be held by the new president of the European Council or high representative for foreign affairs - posts established under the new Treaty of Lisbon.

The document released Tuesday called for improved maritime and road infrastructure, including new sea routes and upgraded port facilities, and a new road to link the Arab states of North Africa - Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

The new body should reinvigorate a plan approved in 2006 to clean the Mediterranean Sea of pollution, a 2007 program to develop solar power, and a proposal for a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010, the document said.

IHT

Sarkozy in Tunisia to sign business deals

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived Monday in the Tunisian capital Tunis to begin a three- day state visit during which he will push French business interests and try to shore up support for his plan for a Union for the Mediterranean. Sarkozy will be accompanied by his wife, Carla, seven ministers and the heads of some 120 companies, underscoring the economic importance of relations between the two countries.

France is by far Tunisia's most important trading partner, with bilateral commerce reaching some 7 billion euros (10.94 billion dollars) in 2007.

A number of deals, worth about 2 billion euros, are expected to be finalized Monday evening, between Sarkozy's meeting with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and a scheduled state dinner.

The contracts to be signed include the sale of Airbus aircraft to Tunisian carrier Tunisair and for the construction of a conventional power station by the French firm Alstom at Ghannouch, in southern Tunisia.

EADS unit Airbus has signed a firm order for the sale of 13 aircraft and an option for two others to Tunisian carrier Tunisair, the French presidency said in a statement.

Inflation causes unrest

Tunisia's consumer price inflation increased to 5.9 percent year-on-year in March from 5.7 percent in February, government figures showed on Monday. Food price inflation slowed to 8.5 percent in March from 8.6 percent a month earlier, but transport costs quickened to 6.4 percent from 4.3 percent.

Rising prices of essential goods have eaten into living standards in the north African country of 10 million. Three days of protests against rising living costs and joblessness in Tunisia's central town of Redeyef last week ended with clashes between police and demonstrators and 20 arrests.

The government has envisaged an inflation rate of 3.0 percent for full-year 2008, down from 3.1 percent in 2007. The International Monetary Fund sees Tunisia's inflation increasing to 4 percent due to soaring world commodity prices.

Reuters

FEMIP finance contracts in Mediterranean Partner Countries

Finance contracts worth 6,957,707,957 euros were signed between FEMIP and Mediterranean Partner Countries in the last five years, according to the latest figures from the European Investment Bank. A country-by-country breakdown, updated today, is available on the Bank’s website.

Algeria 255,498,958
Egypt 2,067,312,240
Palestine 55,000,000
Israel 395,000,000
Jordan 215,896,759
Lebanon 575,000,000
Morocco 1,221,000,000
Syria 715,000,000
Tunisia 1,379,950,000

Regional - North Africa 10,000,000

Mediterranean Countries 68,050,000

Peugeot to Transfer Its Call Center From France to Tunisia

Tunisia's reputation as a hub for call centers was reinforced at the news that Peugeot, the French car maker, will shift its European call centre based in Lyon, France, to Tunisia and Portugal.

Peugeot's Tunisian call center which will be operational in Spring 2008 will handle calls from France, which will constitute about 40% of the total number of calls, whereas Portuguese operators will make up the remaining incoming calls (60%) from European countries.

The company's French call center which is managed by 'Teleperformance' registered a decreasing number of calls over the years. Another reason that has justified Peugeot's decision to transfer it call centre to Tunisia is the less expensive labor costs and the fact that 'Teleperformance' is already successfully managing several other call centers in Tunisia. The company's workforce in the country has increased from 100 employees in 2001, to several thousands in 2007. The remarkable development of call centers in Tunisia was made possible not only by the existence of a qualified, less expensive labor- force in Tunisia, but also by a modern, competitive, telecommunication system.

Tunisia launches first religious radio station

Tunisia's first religious radio station started broadcasting on the first day of Ramadan, an attempt by the government to give a platform to moderate Muslims and to keep Islamists at bay. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced the launching of the first radio with a religious vocation in Tunisia.

This baptized radio “Ezzeitouna” (Olive Tree) –an eponym of a prestigious mosque and a religious institution in the old Medina of Tunis--, will emit during 24 hours the tape FM and will cover 80% of the national territory.

The launching of this third private radio in Tunisia, where Islam is the religion of State, emanates in particular from the concern of the government to encourage the enlightened spirits and diffuse the authentic values of Islam, notably tolerance, mutual aid and moderation.

MEDSTAT II meeting

General Directors of the Mediterranean Partner Countries' National Statistics Institutes were in Brussels on September 6-7, 2007 at the invitation of EuropeAid and Eurostat for the first Partnership Group Meeting organised within the framework of the MEDSTAT II regional programme.

The aim of the meeting was to bring together all those involved in the project for a frank discussion about the results achieved so far and future challenges, as well as to start a dialogue on future statistical cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation began in 1996 through the regional programme MEDSTAT. Ten years later (January 2006), MEDSTAT II, a three-year, €30 million programme, was launched with ten partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). It deals with statistics in nine thematic sectors (Trade, National Accounts, Social Statistics, Energy, Agriculture, Environment, Tourism, transport and Migration) and three horizontal sectors (Training, Information System and Dissemination). The programme’s main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the partner countries’ National Statistics Institutes and each country’s own National Statistical System.

Reporters on the job

After leaving the offices of a banned magazine and human rights group in Tunisia staff writer Jill Carroll and her interpreter noticed that they had attracted a tail.
"He was wearing a black shirt. My interpreter saw him trailing a block or so along behind us through the city but I couldn't spot him," says Jill. "Finally, we stopped and turned around so my interpreter could point out the man to me. He was hiding behind a tree across the street. After a moment he poked his head out. When he saw us looking at him and pointing, he quickly jumped back behind the tree. A stalker? An avid Monitor reader? More likely, a secret policeman from Tunisia's extensive intelligence network assigned to watch us as we met with people who did not meet with government approval."
After that, Jill noticed a different man tailing them each day. "It became a game. Every morning, after we left the hotel, we wondered who would spot the secret policeman first. After a while, we got pretty good at it. We joked about going for a nice, long jog through Tunis to give them a workout," says Jill. "But I forgot to bring my running shoes."

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Sarkozy in Tunisia, Algeria

Sarkozy promotes Mediterranean Union during visit to Algeria and Tunisia
French President Nicolas Sarkozy concluded a visit to Tunisia on Wednesday morning (July 11th), as part of his first tour of the Maghreb as French President. According to Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP), Sarkozy's Tuesday evening talks with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali focused on "fruitful co-operation between Tunisia and France, and... intensifying interconnection and consultation between the two countries to elevate the Tunisian-French partnership to the highest level."
...
During his visit to Algeria on Tuesday, Sarkozy said "friendship feeds more on projects and actions, than on treaties, speeches and words, and I believe that on this first point, our watches mark exactly the same hour. I did not experience the war with Algeria. I am not part of that generation on which history naturally weighs heavily. I came to Algeria as a friend, with the willingness to forge an understanding between two sovereign peoples, independent, who respect each other, and who share a history."

Magharebia