Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at the opening session of the Congress of Ambition of the Democratic Constitutional Rally

Tunis, July 28, 2003

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,

Fellow RCD activists,
By the grace of God, we open the proceedings of the "Congress of Ambition", this important milestone in the history of our prestigious Party and its continuous activist action. On this occasion, it gives me a great pleasure to welcome the guests of the Congress-representatives of parties and national organizations as well as outstanding personalities from sisterly and friendly countries, expressing to all of them our happiness to see them among us participating in this distinguished event.

The "Congress of Ambition" is our Party's first congress in the 21st century. With this Congress, the RCD steps into a new century, anchors its future-oriented progression and revives the glories of the past. For indeed, few are the parties which emerged in the same period of the beginning of the past century and managed to pursue their progression and to remain strong, active and outstanding, materializing the ambitions of their peoples and keeping up with their concerns and aspirations.

Our Party's inexhaustible action was not confined to the period of struggle for the liberation of the country. It rather carried on its activism so as to liberate Tunisians and preserve their dignity in the noble, comprehensive and developed sense of the term.

In the past, our Party's action was focused on instilling awareness among the people of this land that their dignity remained incomplete so long as one inch of their land was still under colonization. Today, and faithful to the same values, we work within this glorious Party to disseminate awareness that the dignity of a citizen remains incomplete so long as there exists in our country one Tunisian not enjoying the conditions of a decent life.

The forms of activism change with time, but their motives are the same : working for a central cause, namely the dignity of the country and of Man. This cause establishes an organic link between generations and is the very essence of the constants that are not subject to the influence of variables.

Here indeed lie our Party's genius and the secret of its perenniality and the permanence of its mission; this party which was the faithful voice of the people during the period of the National Movement, away from any dependence or fanatic ideology, and which liberated the country with the capabilities of its people and contributed, through their intellectual and manual capacities, to the construction of the modern state.

Our Party is the party of activism, sacrifice and accomplishment.

In such a historical event, it is worth calling back this activism, so as to express our gratitude to all who contributed to liberating the country and to pay tribute to the memory of martyrs, leaders and freedom-fighters, in the forefront of whom the late leader Habib Bourguiba, whose centennial we will commemorate, with all due consideration and pride, in a few days, to immortalize his activism and to express our constant faithfulness to our national and historical symbols.

We also express our consideration to the generations of activists and freedom-fighters who are still pursuing with us our course of action, with enthusiasm and commitment, stressing our constant determination to provide them with all due care and attention and to draw from their experiences.

It is out of our faithfulness to Tunisia and to the activism of leaders and reformers that we responded on November 7, 1987, to the call of duty, and undertook to save the country and this Party from collapse and the unknown destiny threatening them.

This Change came to lay the ground for an avant-garde, comprehensive and coherent societal project whose objectives and ambitions are constantly being renewed.

In consideration for the great sacrifices and commendable services made by this glorious Party for the sake of the country, we have been keen to entrust it with the mission of the Change. The Party's activists, cadres and structures have responded positively, showing a high level of enthusiasm and commitment. It was thus that we launched a magnificent national epic that has offered the country many achievements within the context of natural and international conditions that were not always appropriate. We have also worked to change mindsets and to open up wide prospects for all skills to show creativity and make innovations.

This Congress offers an opportunity for thinking and assessment, and constitutes the starting point for a new phase of work and activism in order to preserve Tunisia's achievements and enrich its gains in all fields.

Such is our Party's responsibility and renewed mission. It is the party of struggle, exploits and glories, the party of great historical achievements, the party of modernity and progress that pursues, in the era of change and reform, the process of elevating Tunisia to the highest levels of glory and invulnerability, so that its banner remains always high among nations.

Fellow RCD activists,
Our belief in our Party is unshakably strong. For that reason, we have entrusted it with our future and our comprehensive reform project. The Party has always been up to our expectations : it actively responded to our call when we exhorted it to improve its performance. We also developed its intellectual system of reference and its political mission until it recovered its vitality and avant-garde position.

We have placed high stakes on our Party and won the stakes. We have entrusted it with important missions and tremendous responsibilities, so that it perseveres in its efforts and endeavors, with a sense of ambition to reach glory and distinction, so that Tunisia remains invulnerable, as it has always been throughout its long history.

It is a march forward that is rich in action and accomplishments; an epic of work and activism undertaken by our Party with enthusiasm and effectiveness. Our Party has preserved the gains, consecrated the choices, and provided the mobilization and conditions necessary for the success of the major reforms in the political, economic, social and cultural fields, those reforms which have offered Tunisia a high status among the group of emerging countries and made of it a model for stability and progress, enjoying respect and consideration all over the world.

The strength and efficiency of parties lie in the degree of awareness of their grassroots and structures of the challenges, as well as in their sense of responsibility, their diligence in serving the Party's objectives and disseminating its principles, and their determination to implement the programs and orientations in order to promote society and meet its ambitions.

I avail myself of this occasion to express my thanks and consideration to the RCD activists, elites and cadres-men and women, inside as well as outside the country, for the efforts they have exerted during the five past years, in order to consecrate the orientations of the "Congress of Excellence", to implement its recommendations and to push ahead the comprehensive development process.

It was a period replete with action and accomplishments, during which we accelerated the pace of reform and construction, recorded a host of achievements, and materialized our "Program for the Future" with its various themes and dimensions. We crowned this process with the organization of the first popular referendum in Tunisia, concerning the constitutional reform that laid the foundations of the Republic of Tomorrow and confirmed the commitment of all Tunisians-men and women-to the initiatives we take to consolidate our country's present and future.

During this period, the RCD proved, in all events and on all occasions, to be the party of activism and mobilization, combining its keenness on reinforcing its status and influence with its constant endeavors to win national stakes and achieve our country's aspiration to further development and prosperity.

This is indeed our capital of activism which we call back today with much pride and which strengthens our determination to move forward. It is an interrupted course of activism and generous efforts.

To assert these meanings, we chose "Ambition" as a motto through which we materialize our longing and aspiration for the better. It is a motto with which we step into the new century, determined to preserve our gains, to strengthen our position and to reinforce our presence in this period of the history of our country and of humanity where only those armed with will, determination and ambition can claim a place and an influence.

Major stakes can, in fact, be won only by ambition, and decisive challenges can only be faced with ambition; an ambition based on self-confidence and a belief in our people's capacities and potentialities.
Fellow RCD activists,
We have been keen on making the preparation for our Congress an opportunity for assessment, thinking, profound dialogue and exchange of views on the situation of our Party and our country, in light of a prospection of the coming period, to illustrate the sense of ambition which can be fruitful only if it is based on an understanding of realities and awareness of their changes, an exploration of their perspectives and a definition of the programs and mechanisms necessary for their promotion and development. It is a responsibility we have vested in our activists, men and women, and in all our structures inside as well as outside the country, by establishing think-tank committees at the grassroots, local, regional and national levels, to examine the major issues, questions and themes that concern the present and the future, and to make appropriate suggestions and recommendations.

We have recommended to ensure a large participation in the work of these committees, involving the largest possible number of men and women activists. The aim is to consecrate our constant belief in the role of RCD grassroots in the life of the party; for the party's basic structures are the primary source for its will, approaches and ideas.

While reaffirming our pride as to the work performed by these committees and our consideration for the efforts they have exerted and for the recommendations and suggestions on the basis of which draft motions have been submitted to the Congress, we again express our satisfaction with the massive participation that these committees have known, at various levels, and with the seriousness and depth they have shown in addressing the issues submitted to them.
I also commend the efforts exerted in the material organization of this Congress, expressing my thanks to all who have contributed to it and worked to ensure its success, so that it reaches such a high level of judicious organization and reflects, in a brilliant way, our Party's prestigious history and experience.

With this Congress, we step into a new phase of Tunisia's history, after we have achieved the objectives set by the "Congress of Excellence", and after our country has made major strides on the path of development, despite the inappropriate climatic and international conditions. It is a phase during which we will reinforce our capacities and pursue the completion of the conditions of development and progress, in light of our prospective vision and the major objectives and options included in our Program for the Future.

It is a phase rich in stakes and challenges; and our Party is called upon to be, as usual, in the forefront to face and win them.

It is the phase of the Republic of Tomorrow, the phase of our comprehensive civilizational project, with which we have crowned an important phase of reform and change and materialized our vision of Tunisia's present and future.
We have launched this project on solid grounds, based on our people's confidence and support. Today, we are more determined to carry on construction, to ensure the triumph of the Republic of Tomorrow, to consolidate its foundations and to bring to completion its various components and dimensions. The party that founded the republic yesterday is certainly the best party to be entrusted with the edification of the Republic of Tomorrow.
Our vision of reform and construction is comprehensive, based on a complementarity between the political, economic, social and cultural dimensions. While we have, since the Change, based our political project on democracy, human rights and the consolidation of the rule of law, we have indeed spared no effort to consecrate this choice through the reforms we have introduced to reinforce democracy and pluralism. We have also promoted civil society, encouraged associative action and prompted associations and organizations to assume their role in managing the affairs of society.
Today, pluralism has become a tangible reality in our life and institutions. Political parties, in fact, enjoy the conditions of participation and are represented in the various constitutional institutions, in the forefront of which the Chamber of Deputies, the Economic and Social Council, municipal councils and regional councils. This pluralism has been constantly entrenched and consolidated based on our determination and resolve, which we have materialized through various initiatives and measures, and by introducing amendments into legislative texts, the most recent of which being the constitutional law related to candidacy to the presidency of the Republic, which aims to open up the way for a plurality of candidacies. We also amended the electoral code a few days ago, and reinforced this process by providing the press of political parties with a state subsidy, so as to guarantee their regular publication. We have also enabled political parties and national organizations to make their voices heard and to make known their ideas in TV and Radio programs and debates as well as in the daily and weekly written press. Now that we have offered propitious conditions for all political and social components of our country to work in quietude, in a context of liberty and responsibility toward the country and its supreme interests, all parties are exhorted to develop their own capacities with a high sense of fair competition and patriotism, so that they all contribute to edifying the future of Tunisia.

Such is our experience emanating from our political will. We have built it gradually and with fixed steps, protecting it from collapses, offering it the conditions of success, and consolidating it by the constitutional reform which we wanted to serve as a landmark event ushering a new phase of our history, and as a qualitative contribution to our republican system that further consecrates the people's sovereignty and the respect of its will.

The principles of democracy are among our constant tenets. They are an irreversible choice, upon which we have placed high stakes in view of the maturity of our people and its attachment to modernity and progress. Our determination to anchor democracy is also based on our endeavor to consecrate citizenship as a value and a behavior, with which awareness of responsibility as well as of rights and duties is achieved at the level of all individuals and groups.

Thanks to these options, Tunisia is today the country of democracy and human rights.

We have made of the RCD a forum for the practice of democracy. We have indeed taken notice of the maturity of its men and women activists in all events and on all occasions, the latest of which being the elections of the Congress delegates and the members of the Central Committee at the regional level. I am recalling this because democracy in the RCD is one of the guarantees of democracy in the country. To reinforce this orientation, and to widen the scope of participation and the range of choice, we announce today our decision, regarding the coming municipal elections, to elect two-thirds of the RCD candidates in municipal councils directly at the level of regions, and to appoint the remaining one-third by the Political Bureau. This decision is based on our belief in the importance of action at the local level, and our confidence in the ability of our Party-with its men and women activists and structures at the regional level-to make optimum choices and to assume, as best as possible, the responsibilities of local affairs.
The challenge of comprehensive development is a crucial challenge, within the framework of which we have set all our plans, programs and projects. This has made it possible to develop our situation and achieve further prosperity for our country, through the economic, social and educational reforms which we have initiated and which, today, constitute the basis of Tunisia's stability and progress.

We are determined to move ahead in that direction; difficulties can only increase our resolve to achieve our major objectives which we have set in light of our prospection of potential changes in the context of globalization and its ever-accelerating pace. We are deeply aware of the importance of the challenges awaiting us, which we have to comprehend, to be aware of their import and to be ready to face as effectively as possible.

One major challenge consists in pursuing the upgrading of our economy and allowing it to integrate within the world economy, with all the efforts and sacrifices that this action requires, especially that our country will witness, by the end of 2008, the completion of the implementation of the agreement concluded with the European Union. This requires us to persevere in showing a sense of audacity and initiative and in stepping up efforts in order to win the stakes of quality, competition and exportation.

Another challenge marking the coming period consists in further investing in scientific research, mastering modern technologies and continuing to acquiring the attributes of the society of knowledge, especially that our country has made major strides in this field, making it eligible to host in 2005 the world information summit.
Fellow RCD activists,

Our wealth lies in our human resources, which we constantly endeavor to promote and develop, through education, training, and the elevation and improvement of the level of skills.

In this regard, we reaffirm our pride as to the significant qualitative development witnessed in our education and training system, in all its different cycles. This development has been materialized by the educational reform through the edification of the school of tomorrow, and has been consecrated by the new orientation law, in order to increase the schooling rate, improve the rate of success, reduce the phenomenon of school dropouts, and elevate the level of education and training to the highest degrees of quality.

Promoting our people to the highest levels, including all social categories, and providing vast opportunities of employment and welfare for all citizens, men and women, with no exclusion or marginalization, constitute the essence of our comprehensive social policy as well as the basis of the solidary society whose cohesion and stability we constantly work to further consolidate.

In this regard, employment, particularly that of the youths and university graduates, remains in the forefront of our priorities. Employment is indeed a crucial question. We need to deepen awareness of its importance, find ways and means to tackle it and devise appropriate solutions for it, so as to reinforce the positive results recorded in this field, thanks to the initiatives and measures we have taken and to the programs and mechanisms we have established, through which we have been keen on satisfying the greatest number possible of job applications and generating as many job opportunities as possible.

Employment is a problem that concerns all of us. I would like to assert that tackling this problem is a common responsibility, in view of its relation to our society's balance and progress. This in addition to our principled determination to ensure the conditions of dignity for all Tunisian men and women.
Fellow RCD activists,

Our Party, which is great by its accomplishments and rich by its historical capital, is indeed capable of winning these stakes, thanks to the commitment and sincerity of its men and women activists and their constant readiness for generous efforts and sacrifices.

This requires the RCD, during the coming period, to further enhance the role of grassroots, to stimulate its structures inside as well as outside the country, to diversify the programs of action and to continue to attract youths, women, skills and elites.

Placing stakes on youths guarantees the future of the party, ensures the renewal of its generations of men and women activists, and perpetuate its vitality and influence. While calling for the intensification of efforts aimed at the youths, I recommend you to meet the needs of the emerging generations in terms of adequate supervision and training, and to instill patriotism and the sense of activism and of responsibility in them.

This is an action that we exhort our structures as well as the organizations of RCD youths and RCD students to undertake, so that RCD youths remain an example and a model of the youth we want for our country, a youth imbued with patriotism, courage and ambition.

Moreover, based on our belief in the capabilities of women to work, to act and to assume responsibilities in various fields, we reinforced their presence within our Party and offered them opportunities to participate and to make significant contributions at various levels.

Today, we express our pride as to the status held by women within the ranks of the RCD and its structures, thanks to their commendable and worth encouraging activities and activist roles.

To confirm this orientation, we have recently decided to fix at no less than 25% the rate of women's presence among the Congress delegates and among the members of the Central Committee.

Keen on further reinforcing this principled option in the future, we announce today our decision to adopt the same percentage -25%- of women in the slates of RCD candidates to the coming legislative and municipal elections. Our solicitude for women is part of our deep concern with the family, and our endeavor to provide its members with the conditions of stability, cooperation and complementarity, given that the family is the pillar of society and the basic unit in it that guarantees its cohesion and development.

The RCD is the party of all social categories and all generations as well as the party of grassroots and elites. All components of society interact within its framework, united by their love of activism, sincere commitment, and adherence to the project of change and reform, as well as by their attachment to Tunisia, defense of its reputation and will to serve its supreme interest that is over and above any other interest.

Fellow RCD activists,
Tunisians residing abroad are always in the heart of the country. We constantly work to strengthen the ties linking them to their homeland, to provide them all due care, to protect their rights, and to improve their situation. We also rely on them to be in the service of Tunisia and defend its interests.

While commending the efforts exerted by the RCD structures to provide the needed care for Tunisians residing abroad and to organize cultural and social programs for them, I would like to underline the fact that the evolution of the situation of our Tunisian communities abroad, as a result of the emergence of new generations of Tunisian emigrants, requires our structures to further develop their activities based on an approach that takes into consideration the new realities.

This is an action that should complement the efforts expected from these structures to better make known Tunisia's options and achievements and to consolidate its civilized and outstanding image in the hosting countries.

Fellow RCD activists,
We are advocates of good, peace and cooperation between all the world's countries. We reject violence, fanaticism and terrorism, and we look forward to a world where justice, peace and stability would prevail, a world where relations would be based on solidary development and dialogue among cultures and civilizations. Premised on these principles, we launched our call to establish a world solidarity fund, which has been met with wide international approval and was adopted by the United Nations Organizations.

While reaffirming our attachment to the principles of respect of peoples' and states' sovereignty, non-interference in their internal affairs and settlement of conflicts between countries on the basis of international legality and the United Nations Charter, we call for the peaceful settlement of the current international problems, in the forefront of which the Middle-East issue.

In this context, we reaffirm our support to the brotherly Palestinian people. From the present Congress, we salute its heroic resistance and struggle to recover its land and establish its independent state. We also reiterate our call to promptly provide this people with international protection, and to bring Israel to abide by the signed agreements and to be committed to the implementation of the "Roadmap" in accordance with the requirements of just, durable and comprehensive peace for all the peoples of the region.

At the same time, we call for settling the post-war situation in Iraq, by providing the conditions of peace and security for the brotherly Iraqi people, while respecting its sovereignty and preserving its territorial integrity.
We are proud of our Maghreb belonging, determined to stimulate cooperation with the sisterly Maghreb countries, and resolved to consolidate the foundations of our Union, which is an aspiration of our peoples and an irreversible strategic choice.

We also assert our attachment to the African Union, which we consider a historical achievement and a forum for collective action, so that our own efforts and our natural and human resources could be devoted to building a better future for the peoples and countries of our Continent. At the same time, we underline our commitment to Arab-African solidarity and the interest we accord to cooperation with the countries of the Mediterranean. We consider the Association agreement that links us to the European Union an optimum framework for cooperation between the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean. Tunisia's preparation to host the 5+5 Summit in December 2003 as the first summit meeting for dialogue, bringing together the countries of the western part of the Mediterranean Basin, can only bear witness to our constant endeavor to enlarge the scope of solidary partnership in this Maghreb-Euro-Mediterranean space, and to consolidate the conditions of security and peace in the Mediterranean area and in the world.

We rely on the RCD to actively contribute to making known our comprehensive approach to international relations and the constants underlying our foreign policy, through the vast network of relations with many parties in sisterly and friendly countries all over the world as well as with regional and international political organizations. We also urge the RCD to constantly work to widen, consolidate and diversify these relations, and to attach all due importance to action on the international scene, in such a way as to promote the status of our party at the international level, reinforce Tunisia's influence and serve its interests.

Fellow RCD activists,
Those who are driven by ambition cannot be hampered by obstacles, nor discouraged by difficulties. With this Congress, we pursue the process of construction, accomplishment and preparation for the future. With this Congress, we open up a new page in the glorious record of our prestigious Party whose history has been merged into that of Tunisia.

Ambition is our path toward the future, our people's future which we endeavor to make sure it will be better than its present, in the same way as we have managed to make its present better than its past. In that way, we materialize the will of change which is constantly present in us and the sense of reform that underlies all our actions and achievements, and, therefore, assume the trust placed in us to serve Tunisia and its people.

Almighty God said : " Do as you will; Allah will behold your work, and so will His Prophet and the faithful. " Koran.

Thank you for your attention.