Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani affirmed, on Thursday, Italy’s readiness to do everything in its power to support Tunisia on the political and economic levels, to get out of its crisis and prevent the renewal of waves of clandestine immigration threatening the Italian coasts.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani and his Tunisian counterpart, Nabil Ammar, who is visiting Rome, said that “Italy is ready to support Tunisia so that the International Monetary Fund can grant it a loan of $1.9 billion,” noting that Rome “has received assurances about the current reforms in Tunisia and we are ready to play our role and strengthen Cooperation through the support of the European Union,” noting that Tunisia should be helped to be a leading country in peace and stability in the Mediterranean.
For his part, Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said that Tunisia is counting on Italian support to get out of the current economic crisis, thanking Rome for supporting the revival of the economy and in discussions with economic partners.
He added that there are more than 900 active Italian companies in the region and this number needs to be increased, and he said, “We depend a lot on Italian partners, as Italy is Tunisia’s first trading partner, and it is present with more than 900 companies that employ about 70,000 people.
The most prominent of them is the Italian company Tirta.” At the beginning of 2024, it will establish the Elmad project, which is a 240-kilometer submarine electric cable that will unite the two countries and continents for the first time.
The irregular migration management file acquires central importance for the Italian side, as official reports indicate the arrival of 32,000 irregular migrants from Tunisia to the Italian coasts last year, and in the first months of 2023 the number of arrivals exceeded 12,000, including an increasing number of immigrants from South of the Sahara, which confirms the existence of Tunisia as a country of transit.