Italy contributed on Thursday to the Tunisia Economic Resilience and Inclusion Umbrella Trust Fund (TERI), implemented by the World Bank, which aims to strengthen Tunisia's capacity to respond to current economic and social challenges and to support reforms.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the World Bank today signed a pound 1 million financing agreement in Tunis to support Tunisia's reform programme, announced the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in a press release.
The TERI Fund is structured around a multi-partner trust fund and three associated funds (Moussanada, Compact with Africa and TRACE).
Under this agreement, Italy joins the other donors - the European Union, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Norway - which have joined forces with the World Bank to contribute to Tunisia's development objectives under the TERI Fund.
"The Italian contribution is aimed at strengthening the Delivery Unit at the Office of the Prime Minister, with a view to facilitating coordination and speeding up the implementation of reforms identified as being of primary and immediate importance by the Tunisian government".
At the signing ceremony, which took place at the Italian Residence in Tunis, Fabrizio Saggio, Italy's ambassador in Tunis, said that "this agreement is in addition to the 700 million euros worth of ongoing and planned Italian cooperation projects in the country.
As part of a global approach, today's agreement reaffirms Italy's commitment to supporting the process of implementing priority reforms in full respect of the will of the Tunisian institutions".
For his part, the World Bank's resident representative in Tunisia, Alexandre Arrobbio, stated that "this project will enable us to accelerate the implementation of the priority actions identified by the Tunisian Government, and thus improve public services for citizens and businesses. We are committed to continuing our collaboration with our Italian partners to support reforms and promote development in Tunisia".
For his part, Director of the Regional Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Tunis, Andrea Senatori, said that "thanks to this agreement, Italian Cooperation, through AICS, will be part of a multi-partner instrument that will make it possible to collectively address the challenges of equitable and sustainable local development, promote positive synergies between the various development actors and reduce the fragmentation of aid".
"Since its launch in March 2021, TERI offers a comprehensive and flexible instrument to support structuring and priority reforms in Tunisia, through technical assistance and advisory services, while serving as a coordination platform for policy dialogue," according to the World Bank.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse