Tunisia Live (Tunis)
Houda Mzioudet
10 December 2011
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expressed its full support for Tunisia’s democratic transition, on September 10th, during talks held in the southern French city of Marseilles. The announcement was made along with the presentation of an economic support initiative for emerging democracies in the southern and eastern regions of the Mediterranean.
In June, 2011 Tunisia sought to become a shareholder of EBRD, and a recipient of its financing. The European Commission will contribute around 20 million Euros to the cooperation funds of EBRD for financing small and medium-sized enterprises. The Union for the Mediterranean will also contribute capital toward stimulating growth, employment, and sustainable development.
EBRD, Marseilles Center for Integration in the Mediterranean, and UTICA are organizing a conference on December 12th, 2011 in support of economic development and investment. The theme of the conference is “Facilitating Growth and Investment During Transition”. Its objective is to understand the economic challenges that face Tunisia in the short and long term, particularly in the private sector. The conference will include sessions addressing the promotion of growth and employment, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, investment in food security, sustainable management of energy, and improving competitiveness through innovation.
This conference comes under the partnership of Tunisia and the European Union, whose first meeting of the joint task force, Tunisia-EU, was held in September 28th and 29th in Tunis.
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