The two-day agenda of meetings in Tunisia end today for Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Vincenzio Amendola
The representative of the Italian Government, accompanied by the Italian Ambassador to Tunis, Raimondo De Cardona, met with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and the Ministers of: Industry, Zied Ladhari; Tourism, Selma Elloumi Rekik; Agriculture, Samir Taieb; and Cooperation, Fadhel Abdelkefi.
The Undersecretary also had talks with the president of Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sabri Bachtobji; and the Tunisian parliamentarians elected in Italy: Mohamed Ben Souf (Nidaa Tounes); Imen Ben Mohamed (Ennahdha); and Osama Al Saghir (Ennahdha).
“Economic development and social cohesion in Tunisia are a priority for Italy and for the whole of the Mediterranean area. Stable economic cooperation that produces wealth and jobs are the principles underlying some of the pillars of our longstanding relationship with this Maghreb Country, a partnership that could encourage also the development of Africa”, stated Mr Amendola. He confirmed to the representatives of the Tunisian Government full Italian support for the new executive body for national unity, born in August after the signing of the Carthage agreement.
The Undersecretary, who is the first representative of a foreign government to meet the head of the Tunisian Government Chahed after he took office recently, expressed strong interest in the “International Conference for support to the economy and promotion of investments”, to be held in Tunis on 29-30 September, during which Italy will be chairing the working group on regional development.
Finally, the talks focused on such issues as the upcoming law on investments that the Tunisian Government is about to pass, bilateral cooperation between the two Countries, especially in the area of agriculture and tourism (sectors that in 2017 could boost the GDP), and the European proposal made by the Italian Government through the Migration Compact to deal with the migration problem.
