Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Tunis Carthage, January 15, 2002 In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate Mr. Doyen, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I take pleasure in welcoming you at the dawn of this new year. I hope it will bring you and your sisterly and friendly nations welfare and prosperity. I should like to avail myself of this opportunity to entrust you with the expression of my warmest greetings to the leaders of your countries and my best wishes of everlasting happiness and prosperity to your peoples. We duly appreciate your efforts to reinforce the bonds of friendship and cooperation between Tunisia and your countries and to develop such relations in all areas. I should also like to extend my sincere thanks to His Excellency the Doyen of the diplomatic corps for the noble feelings he has kindly extended to Tunisia and its people. I wish all the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to our country every success in discharging their mission. Mr. Doyen, Your Excellencies, For our country, the yea r that has just ended was rich in achievements consolidating the underpinnings of comp-rehensive development and the gains of our people in all fields. On the fourteenth anniversary of the Change we had announced fundamental political, economic, and social reforms, chiefly an amendment to the Constitution to set up tomorrow's republic as well as an amendment to the electoral code. We are intent upon ushering our country into a new stage that will make it possible to reinforce the underpinnings of the republican system, firmly establish the democratic process, and open greater opportunities for involvement in political life for all the constituent parts of civil society. Last year, thanks to our judicious options and the cohesion of our economic fabric, we were successful in achieving encouraging results, despite the adverse effects of climatic conditions and recent events on the international scene. This year we shall be implementing our Tenth Development Plan which will impel our country towards further integration into the world economic cycle, enhance its competitiveness, preserve its macro-economic financial and social balances, develop its human resources, and expand its basic infrastructure. While we count on our national capabilities and on our own efforts to achieve such results, we also rely on our partners' response, cooperation, and solidarity within the framework of a partnership based on equal terms and on mutual interests. The changes and developments that have taken place on the international scene over the past decade confirm our belief in the need for a comprehensive approach to international relations, based on an intimate interrelation between peace, security, and development. This is because the international scene today is increasingly critical and complex due to setbacks in addressing pending issues, to widening discrepancies between countries, and to the growing feeling of deprivation and despair among a number of peoples. With the tragic September events, the year 2001 was marked by a violent shock and a severe impact on the international situation from a political, economic, and humanitarian viewpoint and, more generally, on international relations. We hope that the American people, on whose side we stood in its affliction, will be able to heal this painful wound as quickly as possible. Whereas we reiterate our condemnation of terrorism, our unflinching opposition to all its forms and to the various manifestations of violence, extremism, fanaticism, and hatred, we should like to call to mind that we had called, since the early nineties, and before various international forums, for the need to protect ourselves from such hazards and their negative effects on the stability, security, and development of nations. Our country has addressed extremism and terrorist activities within the rule of law and institutions; it has redressed its root causes by means of a comprehensive political, economic, cultural, and educational approach within a civilizational project based on level-headedness, moderation, tolerance, solidarity, and on laying the foundations of freedom and democracy. We have also called for an international code of behavior to fight terrorism and for intensifying coordination and cooperation within the international community in this field by restricting the movement of terrorists between countries, reviewing legislation granting political asylum, preventing its utilization by the standard bearers and the symbols of terrorism, containing terrorist activities, and eradicating all forms and manifestations of extremism. While we insist on the importance of developing a comprehensive international policy to deal with this matter, defining clear targets and providing for instruments and mechanisms to attain them within the framework of the United Nations, we are intent on translating such ideas into fact. A few days ago, a Cabinet meeting looked into a bill related to the prosecution of terrorist crimes and the struggle against international terrorism. As we recognize today a growing awareness among the international community as to the dangers of terrorism, we believe that this phenomenon is one of the major challenges facing our modern world. It requires increased cooperation and solidarity as well as the mobilization of all efforts to address it and its root causes. The future of world security, stability, and development is still dependent upon fostering dialogue among civilizations and religions and upon mutually recommending the principles of understanding and tolerance among all states and peoples. We are striving, at the international level and in cooperation with our brothers and friends, to serve peace and security in the world, to find just and permanent solutions to major pending issues worldwide. We therefore avail ourselves of this opportunity to reiterate the call we made on November 13, 1989 before the United Nations to think together about setting up an international charter for peace and progress. Tunisia, as a member of the United Nations Security Council and as its president last February, has striven to contribute to peace and development efforts worldwide, give concrete expression to the noble principles contained in the UN Charter, encourage dialogue and concord in finding a solution to the Middle-East conflict and in establishing stability in Africa. We believe that peace and development can only be achieved once all the hotbeds of tension in the world have been eradicated, chiefly the Palestinian issue, as the situation in the Middle East is undergoing a grave escalation due to Israel's continued aggression on the Palestinian people and its legitimate leadership, its withdrawal from the peace process, its disavowal of its commitments, and its continued challenge of international legality. The tragic situation endured by the Palestinian people requires the urgent implementation of a mechanism to protect it. We have been calling for such a mechanism since the Cairo Arab Summit in October 2000 and we have been striving to put it in place within the framework of the United Nations. A just, comprehensive, and permanent peace in the Middle East requires the further mobilization of international efforts to set up an independent Palestinian state, Israel's withdrawal from the Syrian Golan and from remaining occupied Lebanese territories. Mr. Doyen, Your Excellencies, We have called for setting up a World Solidarity Fund, based on our firm belief in the intimate interrelation between peace, security, and development. This initiative was inspired by our national experience in fighting poverty and marginalization. Whereas we note with satisfaction the UN General Assembly's adoption of this initiative and the approval of our call, we hope that all the states you represent will continue supporting this project by establishing an appropriate mechanism to set it up as soon as possible, as a response to the statement issued by the Millennium Summit on the eradication of poverty worldwide. Based on the importance we accord to the attenuation of discrepancies between countries, we hope that the coming session of trade negotiations will lead to solutions that reconcile the requirements of a globalized economic activity, on the one hand, and the specific situation of developing countries, on the other. We also hope that the World Conference on Development Funding due to be held in Mexico will look in-depth into indebtedness, a plight hampering the course of developing countries, by exploring appropriate solutions to write off, alleviate, or recycle such debt for funding development or environmental projects. We hope that the second Earth Summit in South Africa will succeed in adopting a comprehensive strategy based on a close interrelation between the issues of development and the environment and on supporting cooperation in this area between the North and the South. The adherence of developing nations to globalization requires reviewing a number of concepts and practices related to the nature of international economic relations, intensifying inter-country cooperation, reinforcing partnership as an essential tool for achieving mutual and complementary interests between nations. We have, in concert with our brothers the leaders of the Maghreb countries, endeavored to revive the various structures of our Arab Maghreb Union, foster integration between its countries, in a drive to facilitate their openness onto other spaces, enabling them to build partnership and cooperation relations on equal terms with all other regional and international groupings. We note with satisfaction the new dynamics now characterizing the structures and institutions of the Maghreb; we look forward to the Arab Maghreb Union Council of the Presidency during the course of this year, hoping it will be an outstanding stage in the construction of our Maghreb Union. Tunisia has also striven to boost common Arab endeavors by contributing to the clearing of Arab issues, consecrating the periodicity of Arab summit meetings, striving to establish an Arab free trade zone, and concluding related agreements with a number of sisterly nations. Our country is also striving, in concert with Arab Mediterranean countries, to revive the Euro-Mediterranean space, otherwise known as the 5+5 framework. We hope that its Summit meeting due to be held in Tunis will be a new stage in reinforcing dialogue, cooperation, and solidarity between the various parties concerned. In this regard, our country is intent on enhancing the association agreement with the European Union. We hope that the third session of the Tunisia-EU Association Council will succeed in developing exemplary relations of equitable cooperation between the North and the South. Based on our belief in the common African endeavor, our country has contributed to the establishment of the African Union and in providing adequate conditions for integrating our economies within a single complementary space that will enable our continent to develop cooperation with its partners, in accordance with the resources and energies with which it is replete. Mr. Doyen, Your Excellencies, The tragic events that the world has known recently should not shake our trust in the future or our determination to build a new united and solidary world that believes in the noble human values, in dialogue among cultures and civilizations, in tolerance, co-existence, and cooperation between mankind as a whole. We hope that this new year will be a good omen for all mankind, that international relations will be marked by increased détente towards a more just, solidary and stable world. To conclude, I should like to reiterate to you my congratulations on the occasion of the New Year. Please convey to the leaders of your countries the expression of my friendship and best regards and to your peoples my wishes of everlasting progress and prosperity. Happy New Year to you all and to all mankind. Thank you for your attention. Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before the members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Tunis (23 January 2003) Foreign Policy Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (29 January 2001) Foreign Policy Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (27 January 2000) Adress by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at the Ceremony for the Accreditation of New Foreign Ambassadors (13 January 2000) Speech by President Ben Ali at the closing of the annual conference of the heads of diplomatic and consular missions (25 August 99) Foreign Policy Speech by President Ben Ali (28 January 99)