Interview with Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nafti of Tunisia
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its founding in 1985, The Korea Post is publishing a series of the New Year NationalPlans of the different countries of the world. This article is based on an interview with Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nafti of Tunisia in Seoul as part of this program.?Ed.
Question: What is your retrospect of 2014?
Answer: A retrospective of the past year allows me to point out that 2014 should be considered by the Tunisians as milestone of a startup democracy in Tunisia and hence a historical year for the whole nation.
Indeed 2014 was marked by numerousachievements at the political level by fulfilling the main objectives of the transitional period in Tunisia’s post revolution era that is the adoption of a progressive and consensual Constitution which paved the way to building up the permanent institutions of a stable and irreversible democracy enshrining the sovereignty of the people and the rule of law.
In this spirit, 2014 witnessed the organization of the first ever transparent, free and democratic parliamentarian and presidential elections ushering in a brighter future for the Tunisian people and which earned Tunisia to be elected as “the Country of the Year” by the Economist magazine.
Q: What are the plans of your country for the New Year:
A: The New Year 2015 will therefore be the year of economic and social take-off with a special focus on investment attraction, unemployment reduction and social welfare.
Although the economic plan has yet to be announced by the new government and approved by the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, it is clear that the governmental agenda will focus on the accomplishment of the following main social and economic issues:
The poverty alleviation especially in the internal areas; the improvement of the living conditions of citizens especially in underprivileged regions’ the attractionof moreNational and Foreign investments and promotion of PPP; the implementation of new projects of high employabilityto absorb particularly the unemployed among the university graduates; and a more vibrant and efficient touristic sector while prominent specialized magazines have already cited Tunisia among the best 10 destinations for 2015.
Q: What is the prospect of the Tunisia-Korea relations?
A: The relationship of friendship and cooperation between Tunisia and Korea will continue to grow in 2015 thanks to the political will and support of the leadership of the two countries.In fact, the two previous years had witnessed a great progress with regard to bilateral cooperation with a steady yearly trade exchanges estimated at around 400 million USD.
We shall therefore maximizeefforts to further developing these relations in several fields during 2015 with a particular focus on the fields of ICT, health care, environment, agriculture, culture,energy and trade.
Political exchanges both at governmental and parliamentarian levels are most likely to be enhanced in 2015 to send a positive message to the corporate community and we hope that high level visits could be achieved throughout this year.
