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Tunis Allows Private Sector to Invest in Renewable Energy

A finished wind turbine complex is shown in southern Wyoming, US on July 21, 2009. REUTERS/Ed Stoddard/File Photo
A finished wind turbine complex is shown in southern Wyoming, US on July 21, 2009. REUTERS/Ed Stoddard/File Photo
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Tunis Allows Private Sector to Invest in Renewable Energy

A finished wind turbine complex is shown in southern Wyoming, US on July 21, 2009. REUTERS/Ed Stoddard/File Photo
A finished wind turbine complex is shown in southern Wyoming, US on July 21, 2009. REUTERS/Ed Stoddard/File Photo

Tunisian authorities have given for the first time a role to the private sector in wind energy production.

The Ministry of Industry and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises granted licenses to four foreign companies producing electricity from wind with a 120 Megawatt generating capacity and an overall investment of 400 million Tunisian dinars.

ABO WIND AG (Germany), UPC Tunisia Renewables (Netherlands) and French LUCIA HOLDING and VSB Energies Nouvelles got their projects approved in principle.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said during a ceremony held on the occasion that giving a boost to renewables (solar and wind energy) is a priority for the government.

“The government made considerable efforts in order to develop the legal and organisational aspects of the sector,” he added.

The firms will sell wind power to the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas (STEG) at prices ranging between 110 millimes and 135 millimes per kilowatt hour.

Tunisia’s energy deficit represents one third of the overall trade deficit, which has widened to a record level of about 19 billion dinars ($6.33 billion) in 2018 from 15.6 billion in 2017.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.