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EU supports major infrastructure projects in Tunisia

Monday, 14 December 2009 22:10

The EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) is supporting major infrastructure projects in Tunisia. NIF offers €14 M grant for Tunis Light Railway. The project entails the modernization of certain priority sections of the light railway network of the city of Tunis. The network upgrading will contribute to improving access by the local population to public transport and equitable and environmentally friendly socio-economic development.

NIF offers €1 M grant for Feasibility Study for a Concentrated Solar Power Plant. The study has to determine the feasibility of a Concentrated Solar Power Plant (CSP) plant which would contribute to global climate protection by producing environmentally sound electrical energy and avoiding the generation of CO2 with a reasonable economic effort.

NIF offers €8 M grant for Extension and rehabilitation of wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations. The programme aims at renewing and extending 19 wastewater treatment plants and 130 pumping stations, which will protect the water environment against pollution and improve the living conditions of the concerned populations, (i.e. 1,1 million people in 2021).

Tunisia was the first Mediterranean country to sign an Association Agreement with the EU in July 1995. The agreement forms the legal basis of EU-Tunisia relations. The Euro-Med Association Agreement between the EU and its Member States and the Tunisian Republic came into force in March 1998.

The first Support to the Association Agreement is comprising sixteen Twinning projects which are under implementation or already closed, covering the following sectors:Customs, Statistics, Veterinary and Phyto-sanitary controls, Competition, Private Investment, Health, Social Security, Norms and Standards, Land information, Small and Medium Enterprises, Handcraft and Fiscal Administration.

Four other projects are under preparation in the field of Foreign Investment, Insurance, Justice and Home Affairs.

Overall, Tunisia has an extensive pipeline that covers a large scope of the second Support to the Association Agreement which is currently under preparation.

Between 1995 and 2006, Tunisia was a major beneficiary of the EU’s MEDA programme – the average annual commitment amounted to €85 million. However, implementation of ‘third generation’ projects in the areas of civil society, media and justice has proved challenging.

The Commission's financial co-operation strategy with Tunisia (entrenched in the 2002-2006 Country Strategy Paper) aimed to achieve the right balance between action in the political, economic and social spheres.

With an overall provisional budget of almost €250 million, the EU’s National Indicative Programme (NIP) between 2002 and 2004 for Tunisia covered the following priority areas:
· Improving the quality of governance, in particular with a view to enhancing the rule of law; developing the media and modernising justice (€30 million)
· The liberalisation of the Tunisian economy, along with support for an economic transition programme and help to modernise ports and industry (€123 million)
· Improving youth employability, which included programmes to modernise higher education and provide access to the EU’s TEMPUS programme (€52 million)

Tunisia is a participant in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). An action plan for the country has been in force since 4 July 2005, which includes mutually agreed priorities and objectives for co-operation in a range of political, economic, commercial and cultural sectors.

Over the next few years, the Commission's priorities for financial co-operation with Tunisia will be:
· Economic governance, competitiveness and convergence with the EU, including measures to make the county’s public administration more efficient and the economy more competitive
· Improvements in employability, such as supporting reductions in unemployment and developing education and training
· Sustainable development, to include support for environment protection and initiatives to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Help will also be provided to the research and innovation sector

Global Arab Network

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Last Updated on Monday, 14 December 2009 22:25

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