Foreign Policy

Tunisia has consistently pursued a policy of openness and moderation in its international relations, based on its adherence to the United Nations Charter and to international legality. It unwaveringly works to promote peace and cooperation in its own region and throughout the world.

Tunisia has played an active part in the Middle East peace process, which it has fully supported since the Madrid Conference. It has participated in all stages of multilateral negotiations and contributed to carrying out the agreements made between the Palestinian Authority and Israel . Similarly, Tunisia has taken important initiatives in Africa and in the Arab world to prevent or resolve conflicts peacefully, and has consistently participated since the 1960s in peacekeeping missions throughout the world.

In recent years, Tunisia sent hundreds of peacekeeping soldiers to Cambodia , Namibia , Somalia , Rwanda , Burundi and the Congo .

Tunisia continues to be firmly committed to the building of the Arab Maghreb Union, the regional North African grouping which includes Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Mauritania .

Tunisia attaches very special importance to economic integration and cooperation between the countries of the two shores of the Mediterranean .

President Ben Ali has consistently called for relations based on the establishment of ties of co-development and interdependence between the European Community and the southern shore of the Mediterranean .

On July 17, 1995 , Tunisia was the first country of the southern Mediterranean to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.

Tunisia has played an important part in mobilizing the international community against terrorism and extremism and for the promotion of tolerance as a global culture.

The city of Carthage hosted in 1995 a symposium on the "Teaching of Tolerance in the Mediterranean ", the outcome of which was the adoption by the participants of the " Carthage Charter on Tolerance in the Mediterranean ".

Tunisia has always advocated relations based on cooperation and solidarity between nations. In 1999, President Ben Ali called for the creation of a World Fund for Solidarity and the Eradication of Poverty. The initiative, which the Tunisian Head of State reiterated at the Millennium Summit ( New York , September 2000), was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2002.

Tunisia is a member of several international and regional organizations including the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Islamic Conference Organization and the Arab Maghreb Union. Within all these bodies, Tunisia has advocated the peaceful settlement of conflicts, tolerance and dialogue.