Tunisia - A cabinet meeting held on Thursday approved a number of draft decrees. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani on behalf of President Kais Saied at the Government Palace in Kasbah, according to a statement by the Prime Ministry.

During the meeting, the Cabinet discussed and approved a draft decree to amend and complete government decree No. 389 of 2017, dated 9 March 2017, on financial incentives for investments made within the framework of the investment law.

Minister of Economy and Planning Feryel Ouerghi presented the draft, which aims to further promote investment and keep it line with national priorities, particularly by simplifying the conditions and procedures for granting incentives to small and medium-sized enterprises in support of economic and social development.

The main measures proposed in the draft decree are to continue to support communitarian enterprises in order to contribute to the promotion of regional development and the creation of jobs through the involvement of private companies in investments in the "A" class agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

In addition, the implementation of projects of national importance will be facilitated and the employment of university graduates will be promoted by approving the possibility of hiring 200 university graduates or creating 500 jobs.

These measures also include extending the deadline for submitting an application for incentives from one to two years from the date of submitting the investment declaration, easing the conditions to benefit of the payment of the employer's social security contribution by the state, and reducing the rate of self-financing required for incentives from 30% to 10% cent for small companies.

Some documents required from the investor in order to benefit from the payment of the employer's contribution by the state were also removed.

The Cabinet also approved a draft order on the revision of Government Decree No. 2605 of 29 December 2015 on the methods and procedures for granting tax privileges provided for in chapters 31 and 75 of Law No. 53 of December 25, 2015, related to the 2016 Finance Law.

It also approved a draft decree on the establishment of the Housing Office of the the Staff of the Presidency of the Republic and defining its administrative and financial organisation and methods of management.

The meeting also approved a decree establishing a metrology laboratory for the Ministry of National Defence and defining its administrative and financial organisation and methods of management.

A draft decree was also approved to regulate the organisational structure of the technological park to value the desert's wealth and develop its potential.

At the beginning of the Cabinet's work, the Prime Minister called on all ministers to redouble their efforts in the context of the unity of the State and to work in harmony between the various structures and public institutions to meet all challenges and to achieve the necessary efficiency at all levels in order to serve the Tunisian people, according to a statement from the Prime Ministry.

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