Tunisia - In a speech delivered at the Carthage Palace on Sunday on the occasion of the signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the "strategic and comprehensive partnership between Tunisia and the European Union", President Kais Saied said that the memorandum underscored the need for closer ties between peoples at a time when the peoples of the world are seeking synergy and cooperation.

President Saied stressed the need for this memorandum to be "accompanied as soon as possible by a set of binding agreements based on the principles set out therein".

"We are determined to implement the contents of the memorandum as quickly as possible", added the Head of State, stressing that the countries "want real equality and do not want kindness without respect".

On the issue of migration and migrants, President Kais Saied said: "Today we need a collective agreement on inhumane migration and on the displacement processes behind which criminal networks hide.

President Kais stated that the solution to the issue of irregular migrants and their conditions can only be collective by eliminating the causes before tackling the results.

The Head of State commended the Tunisians for the help they had given to regular migrants from sub-Saharan countries, saying that they had given migrants "everything that can be given with unlimited generosity", while the organisations dealing with these migrants were "only making progress through data".

At a press briefing attended by President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, and Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, the Head of State also said that among the challenges facing countries today was "the need to find new ways of cooperating outside the framework of the global monetary system that was set up after the Second World War...".

President Saied said that the system "has divided the world in two, half for the rich and half for the poor", adding that "it is no longer possible for this monetary system to continue in the same form and content".

President Kais Saied criticised this global monetary system, saying it "creates darkness wherever it wants", while Tunisia "seeks to shine a new Sun on the whole world"،.

"Tunisia does not have intercontinental missiles, but it does have sovereignty over oceans and continents", added the Head of State, pointing out that Tunisia is looking to a new future "to realise the hopes of every human being".

On June 11, at the Carthage Palace, a joint declaration was signed between Tunisia and the European Union, at a meeting attended by President of the Republic, Kais Saied, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, and Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.

The joint declaration includes an agreement to work together on a "comprehensive partnership package" to strengthen the ties between the two parties in the common interest of both.

/ The comprehensive partnership will cover the following areas :

/ Strengthening economic and trade relations

/ Establishing a partnership in the field of sustainable and competitive energy

/ Immigration

/ Bringing people closer together.

The press release also states that the joint political dialogue between the EU and Tunisia, within the framework of the Tunisia-EU Partnership Council, will constitute, before the end of 2023, an important opportunity to revitalise political and institutional relations in order to face common international challenges together and preserve an international order based on the rules of law.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Migration, Tunisians Abroad and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement have been tasked with preparing a memorandum of understanding on a comprehensive partnership package to be adopted by Tunisia and the European Union before the end of June 2023", adds the press release.

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