Photos: Egypt’s PM arrives in Tunisia to participate in TICAD 8 summit

CAIRO – 27 August 2022: Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli has arrived in Tunisia to participate in the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) held on 27-28 August.

Tunisian President Kais Saied received on Saturday morning Madbouli as well as other heads of the governments and delegations participating in the summit ahead of the opening session.

Madbouli is attending the summit on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Tunisian Minister of National Defense Imad Mameesh and Egyptian Ambassador in Tunis received Madbouli in Tunis airport.

 

The Tunisian minister welcomed Egypt’s participation in TICAD 8, wishing success for the Egyptian delegation during the high-level summit.

For his part, Madbouli expressed happiness to be present in Tunisia after a few months from participating in the higher joint committee between the two countries held in Tunisia.

The Egyptian premier also highlighted the importance of the TICAD summit as an international platform in partnership with Japan that is concerned with the development issues in Africa.

 

In May, Madbouli participated in the 17th session of the Egyptian-Tunisian Joint Higher Committee, during which the two countries agreed to make 2022-2023 a year of activating economic cooperation between the two countries and to activate a maritime shipping line between both sides.

This was announced by Mabouli in his speech at the Egyptian-Tunisian Economic Forum that was co-chaired by him and his Tunisian counterpart Najla Bouden on the sidelines of the session.

“It requires us to work immediately to achieve this,” said Mabdouli, adding that there are no restrictions on businessmen between the two countries.

 

Madbouli noted that the trade exchange volume between the two countries witnessed a decline during the past two years to nearly 50 percent due to the successive crises of the coronavirus and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Egypt is ready to activate a regular maritime line between the two countries, but the private sector must participate on both sides,” he said.

For her part, the Tunisian Prime Minister said that her country is working on facilitating the entry procedures with the electronic visa for businessmen, with the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to support and enhance aspects of cooperation in the areas of digitization and improve the level of services. 

 

The number of cooperation agreements between both sides are 11 in various fields, said Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania al Mashat.

In statements to Egyptian state-owned news agency MENA against the backdrop of the session, Mashat added: “Tunisian side is keen to benefit from the Egyptian experiment in several fields, including social solidarity and supporting megaprojects.