‘Projects in health care, scientific, various other areas contribute to strengthening bilateral ties’

Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nafti of the Republic of Tunisia in Seoul said, “Projects in health care, scientific and medical societies, agriculture, environment, scientific research, education, culture, women empowerment, among other sectors, have been identified to strengthen the bilateral cooperation.” Speaking at a reception he and Mrs. Al Nafti hosted at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on March 20, 2017 in celebration of the 61st Independence Day of Tunisia, Ambassador Al Nafti then said, “I avail myself of this opportunity to praise the role of H.E the Minister of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea in setting up a fruitful cooperation with Tunisia in this very important field.”

The reception was attended by many distinguished guests from the Korean government, business and other organizations as well as from the diplomatic community.
Among the distinguished guests in attendance were Minister of Health & WelfareJung Jin-Yeop, Chairman Shim Jae-kwon of Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, and representatives from various organizations, including the mass communications media where Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik of The Korea Post media came with his English and Korean-language media outlet editors.

Attendance from the Seoul Diplomatic Corps was unusually large and included many ambassadors accompanies by their spouses. Among them Ambassadors Albino Malungo of Angola, Ramzi Teymurov of Azerbaijan, Md. Zulfiqur Rahman of Bangladesh, Luis Fernando de Andrade Serra of Brazil, Grecia Fiodalicia Pichardo of Dominican Republic, Hany Moawad Selim Labib of Egypt, Milton Alcides Magana Herrera of El Salvador, ShiferawJarsoTedecha of Ethiopia, AdulahSarif Ali Saleem Al-Nuaimi of United Arab Emirates, Mohamed AbdiGello of Kenya, AskarBeshimove of Kyrgyzstan, DatoRohanabintiRamli of Malaysia, ZahidNasrulah Khan of Pakistan, Raul S. Hernandez of the Philippines, Krzysztof Majka of Poland, MihaiCiompec of Romania, Riyad A. H. Almubaraky of Saudi Arabia , MamadouNdiaye of Senegal, Nozuko Gloria Bam of South Africa, Gonzalo Ortiz Diaz-Tortosa of Spain, NiroshaniManisha Dias AbeywickremaGunasekera of Sri Lanka, HakanOkcal of Turkey, andMumba Smyth Kapumpa of Zambia.

Presentation of the national anthems of Korea and Tunisia was followed a celebration speech by Ambassador Al Nafti and congratulatory remarks by Minister Jung. Excerpts from the speech of Ambassador Al Nafti follow:

Gist of speech of Ambassador Al Nafti of Tunisia:
I am deeply grateful to all of you for gracing us by your presence in this auspicious occasion commemorating and celebrating the sixty first anniversary of Independence of my country, Tunisia.
Allow me to welcome his Excellency Minister of Health and Welfare, Mr. JUNG Jin Yeop, our guest of honor who joined us in this meaningful event.

And it’s with equal honor that I welcome H.E. Mr. SHIM Jae-Kwon, Chairman of Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in the National Assembly whose distinguished members have always expressed their political support to my country.
We shall always rely on the very valuable support of the parliamentary diplomacy to enhance our bilateral cooperation.
Sixty-one years ago in 1956, Tunisian people retrieved its freedom and independence and set up its first sovereign and modern republic.
Significant and valuable accomplishments have been achieved, particularly in the fields of women empowerment, education, health care, culture and tourism, thanks to a strong political will and efficient national institutions.
In January 2011, the Tunisian people expressed itself in a spontaneous revolution with a very high civilian and peaceful manner for more freedom, justice and dignity.

Since then, the consolidation of the corner stones of the 2nd Republic in 2014 through the establishment of a new constitution and, fair presidential and legislature elections enabled smoothly the success of the political transition towards the establishment of a young and promising Tunisian democracy. It’s the fruit of dialogue and conversions which led to 2015 Noble Peace Prize.
Faced to a coward and unexpected wave of fundamentalism and terrorism, our army and security forces backed by a vibrant people, have been showing an exceptional resistance to combat and eradicate this scourge from our country.
Today Tunisia’s big challenge remains in setting up a genuine economic transition for a sustainable democracy where security, development and, social justice, dignity and respect of Human Rights should prevail.

The international conference on economic support and investment which took place in Tunisia in November 2016, offered real business opportunities for our main partners, taking into account the newly adopted reforms and many comparative advantages.
In this regard, we highlight the participation of the government of Korea in this conference and look forward to ensuring a follow up of this commitment within a win-win spirit of cooperation and partnership.
It is high time for the Korean private sector to reconsider the very promising and attractive Tunisian site as well as the variety of products to be explored by KOIMA and its members particularly in their next trip to Tunisia.

KOICA, to which we are very grateful for its consistent assistance to Tunisia, is in a good position to confirm this economic progress.
We have also opened new avenues of bilateral cooperation in the field of ICT where Tunisia has been a suitable sparring partner for Korea in many electronic applications.
Projects in Health care, scientific and medical societies, agriculture, environment, scientific research, education, culture, women empowerment among other sectors have been identified to strengthen our bilateral cooperation.
I avail myself of this opportunity to praise the role of H.E the Minister of Health and Welfare in setting up a fruitful cooperation with Tunisia in this very important field.
We are very keen to further develop our cultural ties and we shall organize cultural events reflecting some aspects of the 3000 years of Tunisia’s long cultural heritage to encourage Korean nationals to discover our country
More recently an academic Korean delegation led by Professor Moussa Kim delivered to the Tunisian Speaker a translation into Korean language of 2014 Tunisian Constitution.Professor Jung A will introduce the thoughts of the prominent and outstanding, the Tunisian, Arab and universal scholar in sociology Abderrahmen IBN Khaldoun to the Korean Elite, and I should say CHUKHA HAPNIDA to all of you.