TUNIS (TAP) - Regional Development Minister Abderrazek Zouari announced, on Thursday, that a new regional development strategy has been devised and will, shortly, be presented under the shape of a white book.
"It consists in a set of proposals to be presented to the future government," Mr. Zouari underlined, during a conference held, on Thursday in Tunis, on "Assets of Regional Development."
This three-axis strategy aims to tackle the phenomena of unemployment and poverty, reduce the regional divide and develop social policies.
It proposes a new development vision that requires new democratically elected institutions, adapted infrastructure, an appropriate taxation policy and a good co-ordination with the central authorities.
Emphasis was placed on the need to revise the Tunisian social model, one where 80% of the development resources are directed, under the former regime, to the coastal and tourist zones, at the detriment of the inland regions, which only get from 20% of the State budget.
The new strategy rests on an analysis of the present socio-economic situation where the poverty rate ranges between 0.49% in Monastir and 15.1% in Kairouan, according to the Ministry's figures.
The unemployment rate among the higher-education graduates is of 47.3% in Gafsa and 10.9% in Ariana.
Investment in such inland regions like Sidi Bouzid, El Kef, Jendouba, Tataouine, Siliana and Kairouan is very weak, compared with that of the coastal and tourist regions.
During this meeting, Mr. Jerzy Regulski, adviser to the Polish President, and Mr. Michel Vauzelle, president of the regional council of the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region presented their countries' experiences in matters of development.
The first session of this two-day conference was attended by the Vocational Training and Employment Minister, the Delegate Minister to the Interior Minister in charge of Reforms and the Government Secretary-General.
© Tunis-Afrique Presse 2011
