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AfDB Approves 92.3 Million Euros to Improve Living Conditions in Tunisia

Tunisian President Kais Saied meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Tunisia on April 17, 2024 (EPA)
Tunisian President Kais Saied meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Tunisia on April 17, 2024 (EPA)
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AfDB Approves 92.3 Million Euros to Improve Living Conditions in Tunisia

Tunisian President Kais Saied meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Tunisia on April 17, 2024 (EPA)
Tunisian President Kais Saied meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Tunisia on April 17, 2024 (EPA)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Tuesday it approved a financing package of 92.3 million euros to support business competitiveness and empower the Tunisian population through job creation, according to the German news agency, dpa.

The financing consists of a 90-million-euro loan from the Bank Group, and a grant of 2.3 million Euro under the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in African (AFAWA) initiative.

It aims to provide young people and women looking for work with the skills they need to access salaried jobs, to improve living conditions and promote economic inclusion through entrepreneurship and skills development.

The Tunisian government forecasts that the program could enable the creation of more than 118,000 formal jobs.

Tunisia struggles with economic difficulties that have led to a decline in public sector employment, due to a fiscal crisis, in addition to widespread unemployment among young people and university graduates.

The unemployment rate in Tunisia stands at 16.1% according to the latest data. The unemployment rate for youth in the 15-24 age bracket rose to 39.2% while the unemployment rate among people with a higher education degree reached 23.4%.

Last June, the European Union, the EIB, AFD Group and KfW announced a major joint investment of 270.9 million euros to support Tunisia's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Also, two credit lines worth 170 million euros and 80 million euros, and 10.5 million euros for the Dhamen Express guarantee facility, were deployed to increase access to finance for MSMEs in Tunisia.

At least 30% of the funds from the EIB and 35% of those from AFD went to projects promoting social inclusion, targeting women, youth employment and less-favored areas, as well as the green economy and climate resilience.

This initiative underscored the commitment of the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) to support projects that have a high social impact and promote the economic recovery of Tunisia’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), taking a Team Europe approach.

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Türkiye, Iraq to Hold New Round of Security Talks in Ankara, Source Says 

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Türkiye, Iraq to Hold New Round of Security Talks in Ankara, Source Says 

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan give a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Senior Turkish and Iraqi officials will hold high-level talks in Ankara on Thursday to develop cooperation on security issues, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Wednesday.

The neighbors have in recent years been at loggerheads over Ankara's cross-border military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants based in northern Iraq's mountainous region.

Iraq has said the operations are a violation of its sovereignty, but Ankara says they are needed to protect itself.

Ties have improved since last year, when the two sides agreed to hold high-level talks on security matters, and after a visit in April by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baghdad, where he said relations had entered a new phase.

Ankara and Baghdad have so far held three rounds of meetings as part of the dialogue mechanism, with Iraq deciding to label the PKK a "banned organization in Iraq" during the latest talks held in March -- a move welcomed by Türkiye.

The Turkish source said Thursday's encounter would mark the first meeting of a "Joint Planning Group", which was decided during Erdogan's trip and is headed by the respective foreign ministers.

Talks would also take place to put their cooperation within an institutional and sustainable framework, the source added, saying the delegations would discuss the implementation of 27 agreements signed during Erdogan's visit, and evaluate further joint initiatives.

On Monday, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters that the recent steps taken by Türkiye and Iraq in terms of counter-terrorism marked a "turning point", adding the technical work on establishing a joint operations center for the region was ongoing.

Guler also said Türkiye’s cross-border operations in northern Iraq would continue until "the name of terror is wiped out from this region", adding that Ankara expected Baghdad to label the PKK a terrorist organization as soon as possible.

The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.