Saudi Arabia, Tunisia Sign 7 MoUs in Various Fields

The Tunisian-Saudi Investment and Partnership Forum kicked off Wednesday in Tunis. (Tunisian Businessmen website)
The Tunisian-Saudi Investment and Partnership Forum kicked off Wednesday in Tunis. (Tunisian Businessmen website)
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Saudi Arabia, Tunisia Sign 7 MoUs in Various Fields

The Tunisian-Saudi Investment and Partnership Forum kicked off Wednesday in Tunis. (Tunisian Businessmen website)
The Tunisian-Saudi Investment and Partnership Forum kicked off Wednesday in Tunis. (Tunisian Businessmen website)

The Tunisian-Saudi Investment and Partnership Forum kicked off Wednesday at the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce, and Crafts (UTICA) headquarters in Tunis.

Over 100 Saudi businessmen and government officials from both countries were present.

The event is designed to scale up partnerships between businesses.

This forum is being held along with the 11th session of the Tunisian-Saudi Joint Committee meeting.

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef signed seven memoranda of understanding with Tunisian Interim Minister of Economy and Planning Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia on the sidelines of the 11th session of the Committee meeting.

The MoUs, which aim at enhancing Saudi-Tunisian cooperation in various fields, were signed in the presence of the Kingdom’s Ambassador to Tunisia, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Ali Al-Saqr.

Two of the MoUs were about agricultural scientific research and environment protection between the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture and the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, as well as the Ministry of Environment.

Another MoU was on industrial cooperation between the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Tunisian Ministry of Industry and Energy. Alkhorayef and Nemsia also signed an MoU in tourism between their two countries.

In labor, another MoU was also signed between the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment of Tunisia, along with another one in climate and meteorology between the Saudi National Center for Meteorology and its counterpart of Tunisia.

The Saudi non-oil exports to Tunisia during the third quarter of 2023 amounted to SAR513.42 million, with chemicals, polymers, packaging, and building materials being the most products the Kingdom has exported to Tunisia, while the volume of Saudi non-oil imports from Tunisia reached SAR206.59 million, topped by food products and textiles, heavy machinery and electronics.

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund’s contribution to financing joint projects in Tunisia amounted to SAR3.8 million, the value of the contribution to financing one project.



French People Need to Work More to Boost Growth, Minister Says

French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand arrives to attend a governmental seminar at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand arrives to attend a governmental seminar at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
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French People Need to Work More to Boost Growth, Minister Says

French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand arrives to attend a governmental seminar at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)
French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand arrives to attend a governmental seminar at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, on November 4, 2024. (AFP)

People in France must work more, Finance Minister Antoine Armand said on Monday, adding that the fact that French people worked less than their counterparts in Europe was harming the economy due to lower tax contributions and social security payments.

The government is examining reforms to speed up its sluggish economic growth, although changes to work practices are often opposed by trade unions.

"On average, a French person works clearly less than his neighbors, over the course of a year," Armand told C News TV.

"The consequence of this is fewer social security payments, less money to finance our social models, fewer tax receipts and ultimately fewer jobs and less economic growth."

France, the euro zone's second biggest economy, wants to cut its public deficit to a targeted 5% of GDP by 2025.

The country's 35-hour work week, introduced in 2000, has typically been fiercely defended by trade unions, while reforms to France's pension system have also faced widespread protests.

"Let's all work a bit more, collectively speaking, starting off by making sure that everyone respects the working hours that they have been given, in all sectors," Armand said.