New Delhi
20 May 2008
Tunisia is a small country with big ideas. It is located in North Africa, at the
heart of the Mediterranean basin. It is the first country in the Arab world to abolish
polygamy. It is a rare Muslim country where women enjoy equality of rights. It has
established judicial divorce proceedings, and girls account for 59 per cent of university
students. It has largely remained an oasis of tolerance at a time when some countries in
that region have had to battle extremism and fundamentalism in its various forms and
manifestations.
The former French protectorate may not have substantial oil wealth, but it more than
makes up for it with ideas, which have transformed the lives of its people. As early as
1956, the Code of Personal Status codified the rights of women and rendered polygamy
illegal. A culture of tolerance, openness and solidarity, combined with economic
development aimed at eradicating poverty, has also ensured that Tunisia resisted
extremist and fundamentalist tendencies.
Mr Raouf Chatty, Ambassador of Tunisia to India, attributes the success story of his
country to making "relevant political choices", the essential ingredients of which are the
essential ingredients of which are: Commitment to democracy, respect of human rights,
social justice, modern interpretation of Islam, eradication of poverty, and last but not the
least, empowerment of women.
"We are a Sunni-Muslim country. We have a small Christian and Jewish communities.
Religion is a message of peace, love, tolerance and brotherhood," Mr Raouf Chatty said
in a conversation with this newspaper. It is little over a year since Mr Chatty arrived in
India. He presented his credentials to the President of India on March 13, 2007.
According to him, the polices adopted since the Change of November 7, 1987, when Mr
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali succeeded Mr Habib Bourguiba as President of Tunisia, provides
for the universal schooling of girls, a larger presence of women in the job market, and
the development of mother and child healthcare programmes. In 1993, Mr Ben Ali
amended the Code to give women more rights.
Women's increased presence in all fields and all sectors of society has substantially
advanced the notion of gender partnership. Girls currently account for 59 per cent of
university students, and the percentage of female students in secondary and higher
education has increased from 42.4 per cent and 36.7 per cent in 1986-87 to 53.3 per cent
and 59 per cent in 2006-07, respectively. Women represent 21 per cent of civil service
employees, 29 per cent of magistrates, 31 per cent of lawyers, 34 per cent of journalists,
42 per cent of doctors, 40 per cent of academics, and 72 per cent of pharmacists. In
addition there are 18,000 women heading businesses.
The Tunisian Government's initiatives have changed procreative trends and brought
down the population growth rate from 2.5 per cent in 1987 to 1.11 per cent in 2007. The
poverty rate has been brought down from 7.7 per cent in 1987 to 3.8 per cent in 2007.
The per capita income has increased more than four times during the period 1987 - 2007.
The percentage of households owning their own homes has been brought up to 80 per
cent, and the percentage of sub-standard houses has been brought down to 0.69 per cent
in 2007, compared to 7.5 per cent in 1987.
The middle class account for 80 per cent of the population. Tunisia has managed to
accelerate the pace of job creation from 41,500 jobs annually during the period 1982-86
to 74,400 jobs during the period 2002-06, thus achieving an increase by nearly 80 per
cent. In the other social indicators, life expectancy at birth has increased from 68.9 years
in 1987 to 74.2 years in 2007. The illiteracy rate fell from 85 per cent in 1956 to less than
20 per cent today.
Tunisia, a French protectorate since 1881, became independent in 1956. In 1957, it
became a Republic and a new Constitution was promulgated in 1959. Berber, Arab,
African, Ottoman and European influences have helped shape the unique Tunisian
cultural identity. A Tunisian leader, Cheik Abdelaziz Thalbi, visited India several times
between 1913 and 1937. He wrote a book about India, in which he in which he expressed
his love for India and asked for the establishment of cooperation between India and
Tunisia.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the Indo-Tunisian relations are marked by
cordiality. According to the Ministry, Tunisia has managed, in a relatively short period of
time, to make significant gains on the political, economic and social planes. India and
Tunisia are engaged in multilateral for a by virtue of Tunisia's membership of the United
Nations, Non Aligned Movement, Organisation of the African Unity, Arab League and the
Organisation of Islamic Conference.
The Tunisian economy today is perhaps the best placed among countries in the southern
Mediterranean and its social indicators are among the best in Africa. Tunisia's proximity
to Europe and Arab markets makes Tunisia a hub of investment and production. Its 1,300
km of coastline from the eastern to the western banks of the Mediterranean, with less
than an hour's flight to/from Europe, offers many business opportunities. Tunisia
receives seven million tourists every year from all over the world. It is the first country
on the southern rim of the Mediterranean that first signed the association agreement with
the European Union in 1995, as well as the first country to enter the free trade zone with
the EU since January 2008.
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