European Union (EU) is set to disburse a first tranche of €300 million (990 million dinars) of financial support to Tunisia.

The fund is part of the EU and Tunisia’s comprehensive financial assistance programme which was approved in April 2021.

About 60 percent of Tunisia’s population are poor or vulnerable and the Covid-19 pandemic has made the situation worse, according to the World Bank.

The programme aims to address the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the EU Ambassador to Tunisia, Marcus Cornaro, who met with Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in Kasbah.

In a statement, the prime minister said that the financial assistance will allow Tunisia to mobilise financial resources initially, and to later have additional resources, to overcome the impact of the pandemic on the Tunisian economy.

‘The grants are in addition to the ongoing support to Tunisia and aim to accompany sectoral reforms, particularly in the health sector, through the provision of medical equipment and vaccines under the COVAX initiative’, Cornaro said.

‘The EU will support Tunisia’s efforts, until the country completes its structural reform programme, which the government is preparing in collaboration with its partners and that will allow it to face the financial challenges and provide new job opportunities’.

For his part, Mechichi emphasised the importance of Euro-Mediterranean economic partnership relations, noting that Tunisia was the first country in the southern Mediterranean to sign an association agreement with the EU in 1995.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Photo source: Dennis Jarvis