In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Fellow-Citizens,
Today, we celebrate with pride and satisfaction the 13th Anniversary of the Change of November 7th, as we welcome
the coming century with unswerving confidence and renewed determination.
This is an exceptional opportunity to call to mind the course of the Change and the landmarks of achievement, all
through these years of hard work and generous effort, so as to quicken our pace toward advancement and progression,
within a spirit of concord, confidence, and optimism in the future.
The Change was a momentous turning point in our recent history; we saved the nation and set up a deeply-rooted,
well-ordered, and wide-ranging civilizational project, that takes into account the awareness of our people and
their aptness to attain new horizons in their search for democracy and development.
We reinstated Tunisia in its youthful and vigorous past self, we opened the gates before liberties and initiatives.
Therefore, all proactive elites in the country entered the avenues of the Change, within a spirit of national concord
that preserves constant values while keeping abreast of new developments. We have, in our reforms, adopted a forward-looking
methodology that interacts with change, thus serving Tunisia and placing its interests above every other consideration.
We accepted the responsibility out of love for this nation and in response to the call of duty. We have transcended
the vestiges of the past and unflinchingly endeavored to establish the approach we have chosen for our country
and our people. Because all Tunisian men and women had responded to the principles of the Change and upheld its
orientations, we have been able to attain excellent results and to meet the challenges of this stage. As we have,
for ever, been determined to lead the way and to be effective in all fields.
The struggle for the nation is an endless task, and we are clinging fast to our commitments - commitments for hard
work and generous effort.
Fellow-Citizens,
Today, our country is at an extremely important stage, the stage where it seeks to catch up with advanced nations,
now that it has successfully met the challenge of acceding to the status of an emerging country, based on the reforms
we were successful in identifying, the initiatives taken, and achievements attained.
The challenges we are faced with are growing due to rapidly rising international changes; the emergence of alliances
shifting the centers of power and influence; the appearance of large networks of organizations changing the channels
of funding and investment; and the transfer of fortunes across the various regions of our planet. All of this took
place within a difficult international context which witnessed the emergence of critical financial crises in more
than one spot.
Despite such difficulties, as well as the appreciation of a number of international currencies, the increase in
oil prices, the adverse effects of climactic circumstances on agricultural production, notably in the area of grain
production, despite all this our country, based on the perseverance of its people and the soundness of its options,
was able to score an average 5.4% annual growth rate throughout the Ninth Development Plan, which is coming to
an end. The contribution of manufacturing industries to this percentage was an average 5.8% growth rate; the services
sector scored a 9.7% average growth rate, exceeding the expected rate of 6.7%.
One of the most eloquent indicators of the results achieved is the rise in the per capita income from 2000 Tunisian
Dinars (TD) in the early days of the current Development Plan to TD 2700 in 2000; thus bringing our country closer
to the objective we set four ourselves in our Program for the Future.
The position of our country within its economic environment is upheld by improved exports, as these have exceeded
the Plan's estimates, reaching a 6.9% annual rate, as against an expected 5.9% rate.
This was possible because inflation was kept under control, not exceeding a 3.3% average annual rate, as against
a 3.8% rate according to estimates.
The evaluation we have undertaken this year of the Ninth Development Plan has underscored the increasing pace of
reforms, the fact that results exceed estimates in many fields, the enhanced competitiveness of Tunisia's economy,
and the reinforced social climate.
Fellow-Citizens,
This is the first year in which our country implements our Program for the Future, a program whose objectives spring
from the expectations of Tunisian men and women; whose priorities we have ordered, based on the relationship they
have with their concerns.
Today, we focus our efforts on its speedy and orderly implementation. Based on everybody's perseverance, we have
been successful in making significant advances on the road toward the goals assigned to the various sectors, to
be reached by 2004. Tunisia was able, at an early stage, to have a preview of the requirements of globalization
and of the ensuing rapid changes; it has made considerable headway with the edification of an open and balanced
economy that reconciles economic efficiency with social prosperity, as this is one of our core unswerving policy
options, without which the objectives of reform would be incomplete, and also because it embodies our firm belief
that for development to be sustainable it has to be necessarily comprehensive.
We have been most attentive to investment in all sectors, and we shall intensify our efforts to encourage private
investment which we consider as a fundamental factor in promoting development, and generating employment opportunities.
We have also initiated an integrated privatization program that will open new perspectives to the private sector
and support investment, production, and exports.
Today, within our privatization drive, we give instructions to publish a new list of more than 40 enterprises in
the industrial as well as the services sectors and to publicize the various components of the privatization program
and its time schedule on the widest possible scale among investors and business people in Tunisia and abroad.
In view of the growing part played by economic information in developing the firm's competitiveness, we also give
instructions to disseminate sector surveys among investors and concerned institutions, with a view to enlightening
entrepreneurs, identifying promising sectors, and setting up useful projects.
Based on our determination to improve the monitoring of results achieved in investment, we also give instructions
for the Higher Exports Council to be transformed into the Higher Exports and Investment Council.
We have endeavored to provide all suitable conditions for enterprises to work properly and to uphold their capability
to take initiatives, based on the successive reforms we have introduced in the various mechanisms of public administration.
We have recently taken steps to abolish authorizations and to replace them with terms of reference in all fields.
We have also replaced the various procedures required to set up a personal business with a single procedure covering
all needed aspects.
To streamline administrative procedures even further and encourage investment, we have already announced that,
in the future, freedom will be the rule and authorization the exception. In this regard, we have developed a program
providing for 60% of authorizations to be abolished, half of which will be replaced with terms of reference.
We hereby give instructions for relevant bills to be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies so that program implementation
may start early next year.
In this respect, we also give instructions for one-stop shops to be provided with a single counterpart with a view
to assisting investors and business people in gathering the documentation required by their projects in the easiest
and most efficient way possible.
Based on our determination to reinforce the network of business firms in our country and broaden the scope of their
activities, we hereby instruct to set up a legislative framework for establishing conglomerate enterprises with
a specific taxation system, provided that the leading corporation is listed in the stock exchange and holds a specified
share of subsidiary company capital.
We have recently endorsed a law regarding the Trading Company Code and providing for a comprehensive review of
organizational aspects, streamlining setting up procedures, while opening the way to a new kind of company, the
single-person company. We expect this legislation to boost private initiative and to generate additional employment
opportunities and produce increased wealth, thus benefiting all those concerned - entrepreneurs, investors, shareholders,
and employees.
Fellow-Citizens,
The agriculture and fisheries sector is one of the essential foundations of our national economy. All along the
years of the Change, it has achieved a continuous development that has made it possible for us to be self-sufficient
for many agricultural products.
We have always shown determination in upholding farmers and fishermen when they were confronted with adverse climactic
conditions. We have provided them with assistance, simplified credit terms, ordered their debts to be re-scheduled,
and exonerated them from paying interest rates whenever circumstances required such action.
We have endeavored to set up a comprehensive strategy for the management of surplus agricultural products; and
to reduce interest rates on loans to small farmers, and developed a comprehensive strategy to reform the agricultural
insurance system.
We urge all those working in this field to make additional efforts to develop working methods in the processing
of agricultural products and to build an efficient partnership between the production sector and the processing
sector.
Self-sufficiency is a strategic goal and food security is an element of the security and sovereignty of nations.
Therefore, we hereby instruct to develop a well-designed national program for building up strategic reserves of
a number of basic agricultural products so as to meet the country's needs of such products, and safeguard the interests
of both producers and consumers.
Based on the major role played by various professional agricultural bodies in upholding and assisting producers,
we had given instructions to develop a strategy aimed at promoting such bodies and enhancing their role. Now that
a primary survey has been conducted to this effect, we give instructions to organize a wide national debate regarding
this strategy.
Fellow-Citizens,
Among the achievements of the Change, we have endeavored to build an infrastructure aimed at providing the country
with a modern highway network that links between the country's various regions, contributes in encouraging investment,
and expands development to remote areas.
We have conceived a national program for developing expressways and set up a special fund aimed at reinforcing
and enhancing this type of infrastructure. We hereby give instructions to start work on the Tunis-Medjez El Bab-Oued
Zarga Expressway in the course of the coming year.
The recent past has also been marked by deep reforms in transports aimed at liberalizing the sector, enhancing
its competitiveness, reducing its costs, and upholding exports and productive sectors.
Fellow-Citizens,
With faith in the intelligence of our people, and as we are preparing to welcome the third Millennium with competence
and capability, we have chosen as one of the priority areas of our Program for the Future to gain command of modern
technology and to build a knowledge-based society.
During the Era of Change, we developed the communication infrastructure through the implementation of large projects
aimed at securing a wide range of quality services covering the country's various regions. We also developed appropriate
legislation to keep abreast of changes occurring on the international scene in this field.
The decision we have taken providing for the setting up of public internet facilities had a most positive impact
on employment generation for higher education graduates and on expanding access to the internet.
While we are satisfied that the number of internet users has exceeded 250,000 individuals, we are still resolved
to give each and everyone an opportunity to benefit from the services provided by this network and to enhance its
role in promoting the immaterial economy in our country. Therefore, we hereby give instructions to reduce even
further internet connection costs so that Tunisia may become one of the countries offering the lowest internet
connection costs.
Also in this respect, we instruct to reduce the Value Added Tax on internet subscriptions from 18% to 10%.
Based on the success achieved by the Communications Technological Center, both nationally and internationally,
and so as to attain the objectives set out in our Program for the Future, we hereby instruct to start implementing
a ten-year strategy aimed at creating a new technological park each year, so that every region in the country will
progressively have its own.
Fellow-Citizens,
The banking sector is an essential foundation of economic activity, as it stimulates investment and trade and assists
new entrepreneurs. Hence, the successive reforms that have made it possible for the sector to score important positive
results.
The new draft legislation on banking submitted to the Chamber of Deputies will make it possible to enhance banking
legislation and to keep abreast of international practices. The program we have decided to incorporate a number
of public banks will also help set up financial poles capable of withstanding foreign competition.
In the area of taxation, the recent publication of the Taxation Rights and Procedures Code has been an important
step in finalizing the reform process, furthering the public's reconciliation with taxation, and the development
of this sector.
We hereby announce our decision to start, as of 2001, the implementation of regulations on penalties under the
Taxation Rights and Procedures Code, lower than current penalties, pending the comprehensive implementation of
the Code by 2002.
To enhance transparency and reinforce the dynamics of investment, we also instruct to review practical measures
aimed at encouraging enterprises to declare their earnings of their own accord and to redress their fiscal situation.
Based on the steps we have taken to enhance the organizational structure of enterprises and to promote management
methodologies, we instruct to develop appropriate accounting instruments and methods aimed at assisting small businesses
in keeping their accounts, and to involve professionals in developing such tools.
Fellow-Citizens,
Our country's share in foreign markets has increased considerably; its position was also reinforced on European,
Asian, and Maghreb-Union markets.
As we are getting ready to enter into negotiations with the European Union concerning the agricultural sector and
the services sector, we have given instructions for such negotiations to be properly prepared so as to safeguard
our country's interests and allow it to reach the goals set in our association agreement with the European Union.
Within our region, we were the first to enter such negotiations.
A number of steps and decisions have been taken to develop Tunisian exports, to further integrate Tunisia's economy
within the world economy, to make the best use of modern information and communication technologies, and to develop
electronic trade.
Tunisia may be considered as one of the few countries that have voted legislation on electronic trade aimed at
promoting and protecting this activity, and enhancing trust between the various actors.
In the next stage, we shall endeavor to develop mechanisms aimed at preserving overall balances between traditional
trade and modern trade, represented by department stores, and the new trading techniques that have emerged over
the past few years.
We have been successful in curbing parallel trade and anarchic imports, while continuing the liberalization of
domestic as well as foreign trade.
Fellow-Citizens,
We have based our social policy on dialogue, concord, and solidarity. We have provided our country with a sound
social climate based on the responsibility shown by all social partners and professional organizations, chiefly
the Tunisian General Labor Union, the Tunisian Union for Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, and the Tunisian Union
for Agriculture and Fisheries. All these partners have shown how deeply aware they were of national interests;
they have buttressed the security and stability now enjoyed by Tunisia and reinforced its achievements aimed at
establishing social peace and reinforcing development efforts.
These social partners have reached satisfactory results in the last round of talks on salaries and settlements,
leading to a three-year plan of salary increases, the fourth of its type since 1990.
Thus, all along the years of the Change, wage-earners will have benefited from salary increases on a regular and
continuous basis, never seen before in Tunisia and rarely to be found elsewhere in the world.
This year, minimum wages were also increased, thus the Minimum Inter-professional Wage has been increased 78% since
the Change; and the Minimum Agricultural Wage has also grown by more than 90% during the same period.
The reform of the free medical care system has enabled needy families to have free access to health services; it
has also helped to provide low-income families with medical care and hospital services against a symbolic fee.
We have been successful in achieving significant levels in social insurance coverage, as the percentage of socially
insured individuals increased from 54.6% in 1987 to 84% in 2000.
We have also developed social insurance systems and the benefits to their clients, and we have taken a number of
steps aimed at preserving the funds' financial balances.
We have also given instructions to reform medical insurance systems so as to find adequate solutions to the funding
of health services and to provide social insurance beneficiaries with an enhanced coverage against potential health
hazards and a more appropriate system for incurring their costs. During the last few weeks, we have reviewed the
substance of the reform we had given instructions to conduct. It is expected that 2001 will see the first steps
in the reform's implementation, when final discussions of this topic will have been finalized.
We hereby instruct to set up a new system for adjusting retirement pensions of non-agricultural wage-earners in
the private sector, so as to protect even further their purchasing power and strike a better balance between benefits
in various sectors and schemes.
Given that rehabilitation and training are among the best ways to integrate the disabled in the economic cycle
and to prepare them for productive activity, we have developed a comprehensive program aimed at upgrading those
facilities specializing in the rehabilitation of the physically disabled, through provision of adequate equipment
and means of transportation, and assistance in the form of specialized educational staff. We have also given instructions
to increase the number of disabled persons benefiting from loans granted by the Tunisian Solidarity Bank.
Based on our determination to have disabled job-seekers among higher education graduates benefit from the activities
of the 21-21 Fund, we hereby instruct to implement a specific program targeting this category, so as to train them
in the new information and communication technologies and provide them with enhanced opportunities to gain access
to the employment market, whether within enterprises or in work-from-home situations.
For this option to be translated into fact, we instruct to establish a specialized facility to provide the physically
disabled with training and rehabilitation opportunities in the new trades, using methodologies adapted to their
specific circumstances.
Our commitment to our civilizational and moral values and our determination to strengthen the bonds uniting the
various components and generations of the family count among the tenets of our social policy. That is why we have
provided special care to the elderly, whether they live with their families or in institutions for the elderly.
We have also given instructions to set up mobile teams to assist needy elderly people within their homes. Such
services should be considered as a complement to pensions served by social security funds and to the services they
provide to 420,000 elderly, totaling more than 860 million dinars, as of late last year.
Fellow-Citizens,
We have placed employment at the forefront of our Program for the Future and used it as a foundation for our social
policies and development strategies, so that no single segment in our society is kept out of the production cycle
and is deprived of the basic elements of dignity. Our achievements in this field over the Ninth Development Plan
period uphold our efforts and initiatives aimed at achieving further progress on the road to a better future. Thus,
approximately 250,000 new jobs were created, not considering the jobs created by the 21-21 Fund. In addition, no
less than 90% of additional employment applications were met during that period.
Today, we clearly feel the positive effects of the initiatives, programs and mechanisms we have set up to promote
employment chiefly the Tunisian Solidarity Bank, the micro-credit system, the 21-21 Fund (benefiting 26,000 young
people this year), in addition to the various traditional programs in this area and the boost given to our economy
which gave rise to a new generation of entrepreneurs and small businesses. These were able to absord a large number
of skilled individuals and university graduates, under a policy providing for a strong link between the training
and employment system and the self-employment system, and for full coverage of all the country's regions.
We are particularly gratified to note that all these efforts deployed by the nation have borne fruit and achieved
encouraging results, in that the rate of unemployment has started this year, for the first time in our country,
to show a decrease. We are determined to uphold these efforts so as to win the wager of employment and bring the
problem of unemployment under control.
Based on our determination to provide all Tunisian men and women, with equal opportunities and to provide for the
improved effectiveness of the actions we undertake, using more accurate data and more comprehensive goals, we have
decided that the 21-21 National Employment Fund finance a specific program benefiting districts with high unemployment
rates in all provinces, so that people from such regions may be assured of additional opportunities to work and
establish themselves, thus providing for a sustainable and balanced development.
You are no doubt aware that employment is every partner's priority. In this respect, we need to underscore the
important contribution of the fabric of civil society, notably service-based associations, social and cultural
associations, and development associations in bringing down unemployment figures. We shall strive to uphold their
efforts in this direction, to encourage them in recruiting temporary as well as permanent staff, to motivate them
into resorting to part-time employment whenever needed, by developing instruments designed for this purpose, as
is the case in many advanced countries.
Fellow-Citizens,
Our achievements in terms of improved standards of living for all Tunisian men and women and in terms of providing
all sections of our society with the fundamentals of dignity is the fruit of continued development efforts and
the result of our options in all fields. The 26-26 National Solidarity Fund, which we initiated in 1993, made a
dramatic contribution in saving nearly 1330 depressed areas totaling 2150 settlements and more than one million
Tunisians from the isolation and marginalization they were enduring.
We were able to meet this challenge thanks to the cohesion of our people and their adherence to our options.
Again we should like to thank all those institutions and individuals --whether from Tunisia or from friendly and
brotherly nations-- who contributed to the National Solidarity Fund. We are extremely satisfied that this experience
was successful and has earned Tunisia both respect and esteem. Based on this, we hereby proclaim our decision that
the 26-26 Fund will continue its mission, finalize its projects, and implement the program we announced in our
Program for the Future providing for the replacement of sub-standard housing which will have disappeared from our
country by 2004.
Fellow-Citizens,
Tunisians abroad, wherever they may be, will always be close to Tunisia's heart, as we have reiterated on various
occasions and when we met with them, in the course of our visits to friendly and brotherly nations.
We have paid particular interest to expatriate women, based on our belief in the vital role they play in maintaining
a balanced social fabric for the Tunisian community abroad, in reinforcing ties between its different members,
and in deepening their relationship with their homeland.
We have constantly endeavored to strengthen the ties of our expatriate youth with their country and their cultural
and historical roots, through a number of programs specifically designed for them, notably the Arabic teaching
program.
Fellow-Citizens,
The family is at the core of the social fabric; therefore, we have reinforced its cohesion, firmly established
its functions, and provided both husband and wife with adequate conditions to enter into a genuine partnership
where they have complementary roles in a confident and stable environment.
We have surrounded children with special care and attention, so as to preserve their rights and protect them from
the various hazards threatening them. In 1995, we issued the Children's Rights Code. We developed the required
mechanisms for providing children with a sound education in health, educational, cultural, and social matters
Based on our determination to further disseminate the culture of children's rights and anchor them in both family
and society, we hereby instruct to set up a National Observatory of children's rights, charged with monitoring
the implementation of the Children Protection Code in coordination with the various ministries and bodies concerned.
We have placed youth at the forefront of our political, educational, and social options. Young people have a special
standing in our development plans; they have benefited from numerous measures, initiatives and incentives.
Based on our determination to listen periodically to Tunisia's youth, to monitor their concerns and ambitions,
and to involve them in developing national options, two survey were organized: the 1996 Youth Survey or this year's
sample survey involving 10,000 young Tunisian boys and girls in the various governorates. The results of these
surveys will be used next year to prepare the Tenth Development Plan.
We have endeavored to make our youth take part in the building of the future and prepare them to meet its challenges
because we believe that the future can only be built by the youth, with the youth and for the youth.
Today, we expect Tunisia's youth to live up to the efforts and sacrifices made by the national community in their
favor; to uphold the trust and hope placed in them; to be ambitious and spirited; to work hard; and to achieve
excellence in all areas so as to be worthy of praise and success in all competitions on the regional as well as
the international levels.
Reinforcing women's rights and enhancing their dignity and gains are among our central options. We have constantly
endeavored to open the gates of opportunity before them, so that they may have an active presence in all political,
social, or economic spheres. Women today hold some of the most prominent positions in our society. Tunisian women
have shown that they were worthy of this confidence; they have proved their competence and capability in all the
responsibilities they have undertaken and all the positions they have occupied, in every field of specialization.
We are all the more proud of Tunisian women as we observe their increasing education and skills, their capabilities
and initiatives in entering new areas in the economic sphere, as investors, producers, exporters, and business
women.
Today, Tunisian women are no longer just defending their gains and their basic rights; they are now effective partners
of men in all development fields; they are competent partners for building the future.
Fellow-Citizens,
Health is the foundation of life. It is one of the fundamental human rights, a vital factor in social and economic
investment.
The doctor-to-population ratio has increased from one medical doctor for 2,300 people in 1987 to one doctor for
1,200 people in 2000. The dissemination of specialized doctors has also been enhanced thanks to the incentives
we have decided over the past few years.
The results achieved in the health sector, and in other social sectors, have made it possible to realize a quantum
leap in the life style of the Tunisian people; life expectancy at birth in our country increased from 66 years
in 1988 to 73 years in 2000; natural population growth declined to 1.1% in 1999. Such achievements will make it
possible for our country to reach a balanced position in terms of demographic change within a shorter time period
than expected.
Fellow-Citizens,
Environmental protection is one of the fundamental options of the New Era because sustainable development can only
be achieved in a sound environment. As a consequence, we have developed a national strategy for environmental protection
in the natural, industrial, urban, and tourist context, so as to endow our country with a safe environment, pleasant
to live in.
We follow with interest the cases of industrial areas and industrial pollution within the framework of a national
program based on prevention, monitoring, and improvement of critical environmental situations.
We have set up a fund for eradicating pollution that has provided 253 small and medium-sized firms with financial
assistance exceeding 25 million dinars to protect their environment.
We are currently developing a well-designed strategy in the area of alternative and renewable energy sources that
have proved efficient, such as solar and wind energy; considering their positive impact on environmental safety
and protection, in addition to the capabilities they provide in addressing higher energy costs.
Fellow-Citizens,
The educational system has been, and still is, a motive of pride and satisfaction for all Tunisian men and women.
In order to firmly establish our people's deeply-rooted, everlasting awareness of the importance of knowledge,
we have, ever since the early days of the Change, undertaken to invest in education, training, and scientific research;
we have devoted specific efforts to such activities, placing our country at the forefront of nations making huge
sacrifices for their upcoming generations. Funding allocations to these sectors accounted for 6.7% of Tunisia's
Gross Domestic Product.
We are particularly gratified, today, that more than one out of four Tunisians are enrolled in one of the various
levels and fields of specialization provided by educational institutions; that the percentage of six-year olds
in school has grown from 90.5% in 1987 to 99.1% this year; that the percentage of young people in the 20-24 age-group
in higher education has increased from 6% in 1987 to 21% this year.
Knowledge is at the heart of our Agenda for the Future because we want our country to attain the highest degree
of prosperity and progress. Therefore, we assigned ambitious objectives to the sectors of basic and higher education,
vocational training, and scientific research; transcending the stage where we had to meet quantitative challenges
for a stage where we need to address the challenges of quality and performance. We have, in this area, made considerable
headway, which has made it possible, since the tenth anniversary of the Change, to develop a forward-looking long-term
strategy to face the social and economic changes awaiting our country throughout the first decade and well into
the second decade of the coming century.
Under this strategy, and over a period of more than two and a half years, we have developed the outlines of tomorrow's
school with the help of experts and specialists from various areas; this effort was recently crowned with a wide
national debate.
Our determination was that all political partners, national organizations, relevant bodies and associations, as
well as Tunisian experts take part in this debate, so as to firmly anchor the principles of dialogue and interchange
of ideas on the major issues confronting our nation.
As we commend the splendid national feeling, the deep awareness of the challenges and trials of the future, the
consensus that emerged on major orientations and conceptions of the structure, organization, and channels of tomorrow's
school at all stages, from pre-school to higher education, we hereby proclaim our decision to gradually introduce
a preparatory year open to all five-year olds and incorporate it into basic education. We also instruct to develop
appropriate solutions to achieve complementarity between the efforts of the public sector and the efforts made
by local communities, associations, and the private sector. This will allow for efficiency and effectiveness to
be secured, now that various surveys and experiences have shown the close ties between pre-school education and
the results achieved by children all along their school years.
As was stated in our Program for the Future, we want Tunisian schools to be for everyone, with opportunity for
everyone, we want a school where our future generations are educated in national values, where they are rooted
in our civilization and cultural heritage; a school open on its age, mastering knowledge, science and technology;
a school resolutely searching for innovation, creativity, and addition.
In this respect, we hereby instruct to develop an operational strategy for establishing tomorrow's school within
a clearly defined time schedule. This implementation should be based on the objectives described in our Program
for the Future and on the guidelines and options that we have instructed to adopt, following consensus from all
parties in the debate. Specifically, such objectives provide for incorporating modern information and communication
technologies into school curricula, reinforcing foreign languages and modern sciences, improving the structure
of the educational and training institutions at all levels, and improving the relationship between them. In addition,
tomorrow's school should develop its orientation methods, taking into account the wishes and choices of students;
it should also provide for a wider range of tracks, so as to keep abreast of the rapid social and economic changes
taking place within our country and worldwide.
Last July, during the celebration of Knowledge Day, we had given instructions to review the law on the educational
system and relevant regulations so as to improve passage conditions from one grade to the next in basic education
and to secondary education. We hereby proclaim our decision, as of this school year, to abolish the examination
now organized to regulate passage from the sixth to the seventh grade in basic education, and to restrict assessment
to the ordinary tests that make up the annual average.
We also instruct, in the light of the objectives of the educational system and in response to the concerns of parents
and teachers and the requirements for an efficient educational endeavor, to examine the current format of the Basic
Education Certificate and to search for forward-looking, more flexible solutions for passage from basic to secondary
education.
Thus, we also instruct to create new tracks in the baccalaureate exam. As a first step, these will include a technical
track to be followed by other tracks meeting the requirements of our developing economic fabric and the needs of
the labor market.
Based on the improved quantitative as well as qualitative results achieved by our schools, notably in the Basic
Education Certificate -as the number of outstanding students has increased exponentially over the last few years,
exceeding the capacity of existing pilot schools- we hereby instruct to develop a program aimed at reinforcing
the network of pilot schools over the next two years.
As we are determined to translate into fact the principles of compulsory education till the age of sixteen and
democratic education -through equal opportunity for all, at all stages- we hereby instruct to set up a special
fund aimed at upholding educational institutions and at providing for their maintenance, thus reinforcing efforts
made by the state in this field.
During the last few years, vocational training has benefited from several reforms and measures. We wanted it to
be complementary with the educational system and a buttress to development, taking into account the increasing
demand for proficiency and skills in engineering, technology and the trades as well as the ability acquired by
our economic institutions in defining their needs and entering into an effective partnership between training facilities
and productive systems.
Today the overall capacity of vocational training facilities exceeds 100,000 trainees thanks to the opportunities
created by the Tunisian Solidarity Bank, the reform of the Credit Insurance Fund, and the emergence of a new generation
of entrepreneurs.
In higher education, we shall continue the radical reforms we have already initiated under our Program for the
Future and according to the already identified outlines of tomorrow's school, so that this sector may discharge
its vital functions in social and economic development and play its crucial role in building the knowledge-based
society.
Last summer, we issued a new legislation on universities providing them with a wider mandate and increased flexibility
in developing their fields of study, curricula, and teaching methods.
Whereas, over the past few years, we have created a wide network of colleges and higher education institutions
extending over a number of governorates, we hereby instruct to develop a program aimed at expanding this network
so that, in the medium term, each governorate is provided with an institution of higher education and a higher
institute of technological studies.
Furthermore, we have reinforced, developed, and encouraged scientific research. We have restructured its institutions,
increased its budget allocations, in accordance with the objective we have assigned to this sector in our agenda,
as it represents an important strategic option buttressing our development plans.
The legislation on patents, adopted this year, was aimed at urging Tunisian specialists to carry out research,
discoveries, and innovation, notably in vital areas with a direct impact on our economy, such as agriculture, industry,
the environment, energy, health, and information and communication technologies.
In this respect, the private sector has no other option than to attach importance to scientific research, as it
upholds the production system, improves quality, and enhances the competitiveness of our economic institutions.
Fellow-Citizens,
We have always considered that cultural security was no less important than food security and that such security
could only be achieved if we possessed the necessary instruments and tools commanding it. We have therefore lifted
the constraints that were impeding the sector's freedom and creativity.
The rich cultural life taking place in our country throughout the year has underscored the sector's vitality. In
this regard, we note with satisfaction the achievements of our cultural production in general, notably the arts
and the cinema, in terms of development and influence, well beyond national borders.
We call upon creators and intellectual elites to increase their efforts and expand their production; we also call
on investors to finance cultural industries and to market their production most especially through modern communication
channels.
When we decided to progressively increase the budget allocations granted to the Ministry of Culture to reach 1%
of the government budget by 2004, we were proclaiming our determination to reinforce the role played by this strategic
sector in preserving our national identity and the foundations of our civilization in the face of the sweeping
torrents of globalization; we also wanted to encourage creators from every field and to provide them with the instruments
of creativity and addition.
Building Tunisia's present and future cannot be achieved without the intellectual elites' effective contribution.
Based on our determination to secure the success of this option, we hereby instruct to develop a national plan
related to strategic sectors and promising programs to which the new funding will be channeled, including care
for artists and their projects.
We also give instructions to reinforce existing mechanisms of assistance to artists, creators, and all intellectuals,
to help those in need and the elderly in the profession; so that Tunisian artists may live in dignity and respect
throughout their lives.
In order to reinforce our cultural infrastructure and to provide the sector with modern facilities, in accordance
with its developments and diverse characteristics, we have decided that the construction of the "Cultural
City" in Tunis should start early in 2001.
This will be a city with many departments, workshops, and areas of specialization, providing intellectuals with
all the necessary conditions and resources likely to encourage increased production and creativity.
In a world marked by major developments in knowledge and science, we should endeavor to disseminate the culture
of science and modern information and communication technologies among our people; we should make it possible for
our people to buy culture and to use it well; we should raise our people's awareness about the ground rules governing
our age.
In this regard, based on our determination to expand the benefits of modern technologies for all segments of our
people on the widest scale and the easiest way possible, we hereby instruct to enable average-income Tunisian households
to acquire a home computer not exceeding TD 1,000. This operation, to be funded with low interest rates by the
Tunisian Solidarity Bank, will start early next year.
Fellow-Citizens,
Our firm belief in human rights, our constant endeavor to anchor such rights both in principle and in practice,
our reiterated initiatives ever since the Change to take measures aimed at enhancing and upholding such rights,
are at the origin of our constant interest in adjusting and reforming penal legislation. We have developed regulations
on police custody and preventive detention; we have further improved the penalty system, we have replaced freedom-restricting
penalties for certain crimes with general interest work for the community; we have provided new assurances in the
area of penal procedures, such as the recently adopted two-tier litigation system in criminal cases and the newly-created
position of judge for the enforcement of penalties.
We hereby give instructions for the state to pay adequate compensation to any individual submitted to preventive
detention and not proved guilty; and also to pay damages to people serving a prison sentence if a court declares
them innocent when their case is reviewed.
Given that the founding principles of law and justice require a judicial mandate for the enforcement of penalties,
as one of the important guarantees of human rights whatever the condition of the individual concerned, we hereby
proclaim our decision to transfer penitentiary institutions and their management to the Ministry of Justice.
We are determined to continue this long sequence of reforms, to expand their mandates, to enhance their contents,
and to ensure the implementation of their various provisions. This should allow for safeguarding human dignity
in Tunisia under all conditions and circumstances, because we consider its protection as one of the most urgent
duties.
Whilst we have always striven to provide individuals serving a prison sentence with all legal assurances, we also
instruct to draft a law organizing custodial treatment, ensuring the rights of prisoners, and helping them in social
rehabilitation, as a substitute to existing procedural regulations.
In order to translate the principle of equality before the law into fact and to provide for easier litigation rights
for all citizens, we proclaim our decision to develop the legal assistance system benefiting low-income groups
by increasing its amount, expanding its scope, and streamlining procedures to benefit from it.
Fellow-Citizens,
We have chosen to take the democratic, pluralist option on a clear, steady, and forward course that guards our
country against the hazards of setbacks suffered by a number of other experiences. We have constantly endeavored
to involve political parties and the various forces operating in society, and to march on guided by the rule of
law and institutions, by their values, and tenets; in accordance with a national consensus on the basic values,
constantly upholding liberties.
While we have introduced successive adjustments to the constitution and to legislation organizing public life,
mainly the electoral code, so as to provide the opposition with the widest possible opportunities to be present
in the Chamber of Deputies and in municipal councils, we hereby reiterate our determination to take democratic
practice in our country forward, relying in doing so on the awareness of all parties and their adherence to this
approach.
We will continue to improve working conditions for political parties so that they may play their part on the national
scene and exert the right to be different and the freedom of opinion and choice. We hereby proclaim our decision
to increase by 50% the allowance granted by the state to political parties and the allowance to their press.
So as to strengthen the foundations of local democracy and implement what was announced in our Program for the
Future, we have developed a draft statute that will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, aimed at changing
the structure of regional councils by providing for the members of municipal councils and the members of village
councils to elect, among themselves, one third of all regional council members.
In order to uphold decentralization and devolution, we have also given instructions to prepare the necessary rules
and regulations to devolve new mandates to governors and municipalities in the various social, cultural, and sporting
fields.
In our endeavor to make the administration more conscious of the concerns of the public, we had announced late
last year our decision to appoint a representative of the administrative mediator in each governorate.
The law related to this position as well as the implementation regulations were issued early this year. Starting
from next year, a first group of representatives of the administrative mediator will be appointed.
Fellow-Citizens,
It is natural that information should be an important sector benefiting from numerous initiatives, as it plays
an important role in reinforcing the democratic pluralist process in our country and in buttressing the foundations
of civil society; and also because it is expected to give a genuine description of our country's progress and to
cover the changes undergone by our society in all fields.
In all the reforms and measures benefiting this sector, we have insisted on providing professionals with the best
conditions possible, so that they may discharge their duty in total freedom, without anything to restrict their
scope of activity.
To uphold this option, we shall submit to the Chamber of Deputies in the near future a draft amendment to the Press
Code providing for the abolition of the provisions of prison sentences existing in certain articles of the Code.
This decision illustrates again how liberal and developed Tunisian legislation is compared with a number of foreign
legislative systems whose countries are still clinging to severe corporeal penalties in this field despite their
deeply-rooted tradition in democracy.
This amendment will also abolish the penalization provided for in the Code of defaming public order in view of
the vagueness of this concept and the wide possibilities of interpretation that it offers. The amendment also provides
for suppressing those articles that are no longer warranted in the Press Code.
We have also decided that the Code will provide for a "one-stop stop" to be set up for purposes of legal
deposit within the Ministry in charge of Communication, to streamline a procedure that is currently to be undertaken
with various entities.
Based on our determination to buttress the information sector with professional skills and to provide for quality,
we have given instructions for the draft Code to provide for raising the proportion of professional journalists
holding a degree within the permanent editorial team of each general information publication from one third to
one half.
We are confident in the standard achieved by Tunisian journalists and we are convinced of their awareness of their
duties and their readiness to abide by their professional ethics, so as to raise this sector to higher levels of
achievements. We invite them to define such rules within a specific code of honor that safeguards journalistic
practice against the hazards of missteps and invectives, and contributes to raising even higher the levels of achievement
of our information sector.
We also take this opportunity to call for the setting up of a joint board between the Association of Journalists
and the Association of Press Managers, to be provided for in the Code of Honor, in charge of looking into professional
ethics and any disagreement that may arise between press institutions on the one hand and between these and journalists,
on the other, so as to find adequate conciliatory solutions to such differences.
In order to provide journalists with easy and instant access to adequate sources of information and to help them
discharge their duties in the best way possible, we hereby proclaim our decision to lower significantly subscriptions
rates to the internet for journalists. We also reiterate the importance we attach to expanding information bureaus
within ministries and major enterprises and to reinforcing document management efforts within public administration,
public enterprises and the media.
Given the effective role played by the Press and Information Institute in training journalists, we hereby give
instructions to review admission criteria to the Institute, and to set up a committee in charge of reviewing its
curricula and looking into the issues of continued training and upgrading of those working in the sector.
Based on our determination to confer added effectiveness and enhanced performance to regional information, we hereby
instruct, as a first step, to set up information and orientation bureaus in the regions where there are local radio
stations, pending the provision of other regions with such bureaus.
What we all of us expect from such measures is to succeed in establishing new traditions based, on the one hand,
on objectivity and daring in the practice of journalism and, on the other, on getting used to criticism and difference
of opinion.
Whilst we note in this regard the recent encouraging initiatives in terms of a wider range of information products,
and more frequent debates reflecting diverse opinions, we reassert that the responsibility for raising the standard
of information, while it rests essentially on professionals themselves, is in all events a common responsibility
of society as a whole.
Fellow-Citizens,
The Palestinian cause is our cause, the options of the Palestinian people and its National Authority are our options.
As we stood by our Palestinian brothers throughout the various stages of their struggle for freedom and to regain
their rights and to establish a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace, as well as through the most critical
and grave situations, we remain steadfast in our determination to hold on to this position.
This was illustrated by our country's support to the Al-Qods Intifadha and the resistance of the brotherly people
of Palestine in the face of the blatant Israeli aggression and the occupying forces' violation of the most basic
human rights, their killing of innocent civilians in confrontations where they used firearms, rockets, tanks, and
helicopters against an Intifadha with no other weapons than stones.
During the last extraordinary Arab Summit in Cairo, our country initiated practical proposals that were accepted
unanimously, to support our Palestinian brothers in their resistance and to stand by their legitimate rights in
terms of land, state, with Al-Qods as its capital, and the return of the refugees.
We reassert that unified Arab ranks and transcending differences will take the Middle East question out of the
dead end created by rhetorical overstatements and slogans that add nothing to the stones used as weapons in Palestinian
hands. It is therefore crucial to translate the principles of co-operation and solidarity into practical standpoints,
to be carried out, implemented and monitored.
While it considers peace as the strategic solution to the Middle East crisis, our country completely rejects peace
if it is achieved at the expense of any legitimate Palestinian right, or Syrian right on the Golan, or Lebanon's
right on territories still occupied; or if international legitimacy and agreements are ignored as was the case
when Israel undermined the peace process. Furthermore, there is no question of resuming the peace process as long
as aggressions are ongoing and murderous violence is continuing against the unarmed Palestinian people, enclosed
politically, economically, culturally, and communicatively.
The region as a whole will be threatened by the dangers of wars and armed conflicts as long as provocation and
aggression have not stopped, as long as a solution has not been found to outstanding issues, chiefly lifting the
embargo on the brotherly people of Iraq and terminating the embargo imposed on the brotherly people of Libya.
Fellow-Citizens,
Ever since the Change of November 7th, we have endeavored to firmly establish our belonging to the Maghreb; we
have given due consideration to our relations with our brothers in Maghreb countries, and we have done our utmost
to consolidate solidarity between the peoples of the region and to revitalize the channels of communication and
co-operation with them in various fields.
Now that eleven years have gone by since the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union and considering that little headway
has been made in building the desired edifice, it is unacceptable that we should be prevented by transitory difficulties
from resuming our progress with renewed enthusiasm, self-confidence, and optimism.
Our loyalty to our militant leaders and pioneers and to the sacrifices of our martyrs calls upon us to discharge
our duties and to take up the historic responsibility entrusted to us by our peoples to achieve their dreams of
union and solidarity.
It is therefore necessary and urgent at this stage that we take our Union out of the state of lethargy in which
it is, that we compensate for lost time, and join efforts to effect its institutions, finalize its construction,
and buttress its foundations.
In this, we feel confident that our brothers, the leaders of the Maghreb Union, also believe in our common future
and share our determination to continue our forward march.
Our country's determination to further its relations of brotherhood and co-operation with African countries stems
from the constant values of our belonging to the African continent and from a strategic outlook on the future of
this region. We have contributed earnestly and with commitment in addressing the issues faced by our continent,
so as to serve its security and stability and pave the way for the development of its peoples.
Whereas our proposal to set up a World Solidarity Fund was met most favorably by a number of world leaders and
international organizations and bodies, we urge all concerned to implement this proposal as quickly as possible,
so that it may help alleviate the hardships of destitution suffered by many peoples, and that it may be a humanitarian
instrument reinforcing existing mechanisms and programs in discharging this noble duty and establishing the principle
of human solidarity and values in international relations.
Fellow-Citizens,
The challenges and trials facing us will only reinforce our determination and resolve. We head for the future filled
with optimism because we believe in the capabilities of our people and the determination of its sons and daughters
to contend with difficulties, to work, endeavor, and give generously for the sake of Tunisia.
For more than three thousand years, our people has had numerous appointments with history. It has bred illustrious
and celebrated leaders. Today, more than ever before, they are capable of building tomorrow's Tunisia, the Tunisia
of progress and prosperity, the Tunisia of security and stability, thanks to the intelligence of its men and women
and the cohesion of its generations; more capable of mastering knowledge, science, and technology; of being creative
and innovative and of racing with time, a time when there is no place for indolence or laziness, a time for successive
changes and transformations.
Our option is hard work, hard work within co-operation and cohesion. Self-confident and open onto our surroundings,
consolidating our position with every new achievement, we accumulate accomplishments for Tunisia to remain for
ever invulnerable and towering, raising high its standard among nations.
Thank you for your attention.
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