1998 Foreign Policy Speech by President Ben Ali SPEECH DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT BEN ALI BEFORE THE HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS, ON THE OCCASION OF THE NEW YEAR 1998 Carthage, February 9, 1998 In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate The Doyen, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to meet with you today to exchange greetings upon the occasion of the New Year and to ask you to extend my sincerest good wishes to the leaders of your countries and to your brotherly and friendly peoples. As I thank you for your kind compliments, for the warm feelings you have expressed for Tunisia and its people, and for the Doyen's kind remarks and tribute to our country, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate His Excellency upon acceding to the rank of doyen of the accredited diplomatic corps in Tunis. I wish him, and all the members of the diplomatic corps, even greater success in 1998, which will, I hope, be a fine, happy year for all, and will be a new occasion for strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and friendship between our countries and enhancing rapprochement, cooperation, and solidarity among our countries and our peoples. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, The task of reform is an all-encompassing daily action that has, since the Change, been assumed willingly and with determination by our people, so as to reinforce their gains and realize their aspirations to progress and prosperity. The year 1997 has marked an important stage in this process, in which we have crowned ten years of reforms and achievements and opened the way to a new decade whose outline and prospects we have clearly delineated, relying on Tunisia's men and women to persevere in meeting the challenges that will arise and in overcoming every obstacle to the achievement of the qualitative leap we wish our country to make in every sector. We have taken a large number of initiatives in the past year that have enabled us to confirm our political, economic, social, and cultural achievements since the Change, in the framework of the values and tenets upon which we have built our civilizational project, our options with respect to development, and our relations to the environment around us. We have strengthened our orientations regarding the liberalization of initiative, modernization, and opening of the country's economy onto the global economy, working to achieve the upgrading that will enable us to enter that global economy effectively, be it in the context of our association with the European Union or through cooperation with the other partners in our region and all over the world. At the same time, we have striven to give new impetus to the democratic process, political plurality, and liberties in our country. We have also strengthened the position of the parties, organized their public financing, broadened the scope of participation to include various components of society, particularly women and youth, and reinforced the bonds of mutual assistance and solidarity that unite them, so as to ensure our country of balanced growth that will avert exclusion and marginalization and offer equal opportunities to all. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, As Tunisia enters a new decade on the path of development, it enjoys the conditions that foster confidence in the future. This is due to the stability the country has assured and the profound change that has taken place in the people's attitudes and the country's structures and means of work and production, as much as to the prestige it enjoys among sisterly and friendly countries - a prestige that we are striving, sincerely and responsibly, to strengthen and to extend to all bilateral and multilateral areas, in order to serve the interests of all and strengthen the foundations of security and peace in the world. Throughout its history our country has been known for its respect of the values of moderation, tolerance, mutual assistance and cultural understanding among peoples. We feel that now, more than ever before, the world needs to confirm these same values in the international situation. As the distances that separate populations shrink, relations among states are becoming increasingly interlaced, deepening the interactions of civilizations and cultures. Furthermore, the persistence of phenomena such as disparities, destitution, and exclusion leads to tension, conflict, and insecurity. Thus it is imperative that the international community join efforts to eliminate these phenomena through more effective cooperation and more efficient solidarity. It is with satisfaction that we have noted the pacifying of certain areas of discord that existed in various regions of our African continent. The international community should make an even greater effort to help the countries concerned in their efforts for national reconstruction and the promotion of their economies, so that they may free themselves from the uncertain situations in which they find themselves. The United Nations, too, has an essential role to assume here, alongside the Organization of African Unity and its Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, The association agreement between Tunisia and the European Union has now entered an important stage in which we must assure the conditions for the success of this excellent model that we have chosen to guide interaction between the two parties and preserve their respective interests, achieve comprehensive development, and strengthen security and stability in the region. We have been aware of the challenges that are implicit in this stage from the time the agreement was signed, and have been pursuing the reform of our national economy and striving to achieve the necessary financial equilibrium, strengthen social peace, and reinforce the fabric of civil society in our country. Meeting the challenges of partnership, ensuring the conditions of its success, and safeguarding stability in this region of the world will require that all parties respect the social and cultural features that are specific to each, and that they recognize the necessity for gradual progression and the stages dictated by disparities in levels of development, if the risk of economic and social upheaval is to be avoided. Our country is anxious to intensify dialogue with its European partners on the levels of governments, parliamentary institutions, and national organizations, in order to achieve fruitful interaction and prepare the ground for sound civilizational and cultural understanding in a context of equality and mutual respect. At the same time, we are working assiduously to strengthen the bonds of economic and cultural cooperation and interaction with sisterly and friendly countries throughout the world. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, We have striven since the inception of the Change, and we continue to strive, to build the Maghreb Union, a strategic option that gives expression to the aspirations of the region's populations to complementarity and responds to the challenges of globalization, with all they imply in terms of joint efforts, stronger communion, and defense of the common interests of our countries. Tunisia has invariably made a consistent effort to stimulate its bilateral cooperation with all our sister countries of the Maghreb, and we once again reaffirm our confidence in the future of a Maghreb entity, despite the temporary difficulties the UMA is experiencing, and which a particular effort should be made to overcome. We hope that 1998 will mark a revitalization of joint Maghreb action and a strengthening of understanding among the Maghreb countries. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, The Middle East peace process has taken a very dangerous turn in recent months, threatening to cast the region back into the cycle of confrontation and armed conflict, because of the ever-growing intransigence of the Israeli government. Its persistence in scorning the agreements it has signed has undermined the very foundations of peace and is depriving the region's peoples of any hope of attaining security and stability. Tunisia, which from the very beginning has assumed its responsibilities in the process and has taken part in every stage of its development, believes that saving the peace process is an international duty that must be assumed jointly by the efforts of all, and particularly of the two sponsors of the peace and the countries of the European Union, to compel Israel to honor its commitments by applying the agreements it has signed and respecting the decisions of international law and the principle of "land in exchange for peace." A just, global and lasting peace must be established in the Middle East that will guarantee the brotherly Palestinian people of recovering all its national rights, including its right to create an independent state on its own land with Al Qods as its capital, and that will ensure the brotherly Syrian and Lebanese peoples of recovering their occupied territories and restore to all the peoples of the region real hope of living in security and peace. Now, more than ever, the critical situation that prevails in the region requires a strengthening of concord within the Arab world. During the past year we have endeavored to promote the spirit of solidarity and concord among the Arab countries, and have continued working with our brothers to improve the climate of our relations, strengthen joint Arab action, solidarity, and complementarity among all Arabs, and support the efforts that have been undertaken to provide solid foundations for the establishment of an Arab free-trade zone. Our country considers that laying a foundation for stability and building future cooperation that will further peace in the region and in the world, make it imperative that we act urgently and with determination to put an end to the sufferings being endured by the brotherly Libyan people because of the embargo with which they are victimized; this must be done in the framework of international law and respect of the rights, interests, and dignity of all parties. There is no doubt that recent developments will only aggravate the condition of our brotherly Iraqi people, should the logic of war prevail over the will for peace. We believe that diplomacy and joint efforts on the part of all parties to find pacific solutions within the framework of international law, the respect of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the safeguarding of the dignity of the Iraqi people and of their right to a worthy life are the only means for transcending the current situation and opening promising future prospects for all the peoples and countries of the region. The Doyen, Your Excellencies, It is a pleasure for me to tell you what deep happiness I have felt during the different meetings I have had in the past year with my brothers and friends the presidents and leaders who have visited us here in Tunisia, or whom we have visited in their own countries. I am highly satisfied at the opportunities these meetings have given us to engage in dialogue, exchange points of view and enhance the relations that unite us and that unite our peoples and our countries. It is our hope that this New Year will be a good one, a year in which peace and stability in the world become stronger so that our peoples, and all of humanity, may realize their aspirations to progress and prosperity. I reiterate my greetings, extending to you and yours my very best wishes for a happy life and a pleasant stay among us in Tunisia, and for continued success in your noble mission. Thank you for your attention.