IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

As part of its tourism promotion campaign, Tunisia launched the 1st digital platform linking Tunisia with Gulf countries through real estate and tourism on the sideline of the Saudi International Travel and Tourism exhibition held recently in Jeddah.

The official launch was attended by Sami El Saiedy, consul general of Tunisia; Fahmy Al-Hoki, director common interests in Tunisian Ministry of Tourism; Shoukry Charrad, head of Arab markets at National Tunisian Bureau for Tourism; and Younus Inayat, CEO of Y&D Real Estate and Investment.

Germany provided €40 million to Tunisia for an E-government program, according to a communique published on February 12, 2019, by Tunisia’s ministry of development, investment and international cooperation.

“The modernization of the administration, a key theme of major reforms, is being implemented by the government”, said Zied Ladhari (photo), Tunisia’s minister of development, investment and international cooperation, indicating that a timeline would be set to conclude technical talks between the various institutions involved and the German partner.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used as a strategic lever for socioeconomic development and as a competitive tool in an increasingly global and deregulated market.

The report indicates that Tunisia comes on top of African countries and 7th among Arab countries.

Tunisia has demonstrated its desire to become a more democratic and open country and sees information technology as a means to achieve that goal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet said in a release.

MoU was signed by Moez Chakchouk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tunisian Post and Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard, at a ceremony held at the Social Headquarter of the Tunisian Post, under the auspices of H.E. Mohammed Anwar Maarouf, Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy, Tunisia, with the presence of a number of executives representing the two institutions and members of the local media.

Building on decades of cooperation between the two organizations, the collaboration will enable the Tunisian Post to introduce innovative and safe solutions for electronic payments for the benefit of individuals and SMEs, allowing them to use financial services round-the-clock via the Tunisian Post’s electronic payment system and particularly, the prepaid e-DINAR Smart Card.

Morocco-based startup, DabaDoc, a service that allows people book doctors’ appointments online, has expanded to Algeria and Tunisia.

With the expansion, DabaDoc now supports over 2,000 doctors in the three countries.

Founded in 2014 by siblings Zineb and Driss Drissi Kaitouni, the platform features doctors in 72 different specialties across 50 cities, enabling thousands of patients to connect with doctors through the website.

On February 4, 2019, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca (photo), president of the Republic of Malta, during her official visit in Tunisia in the framework of the joint Tunisia-Malta committee expressed her will to see a boost in the cooperation between the two countries, in the IT sector notably. According to Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Malta currently experienced dynamism in various IT segments like the Blockchain; an experience and know-how that could be shared with other countries such as Tunisia.

In 2014, the European commission's CORDIS presented Malta as one of the IT markets whose development is growing faster than in Europe. The country recorded above-average performances in the E-governance.

Mr. Bouraoui noted that the meeting is an opportunity to take cognizance of national and international experiences in terms of generalization of quality systems to all public services.

The event which is organized by the Tunisian Telecom Sup Association is part of the celebration of Telecommunications and Information Society World Day.

Opening the meeting, Mrs. Lamia Chefai Sghaier, Secretary of State in charge of Communication Technologies, Internet and Free Software, stressed that Tunisia has made great strides towards the development of what she termed “digital, sustainable cities".

The agreement aims at setting up in each ministry, a virtual, modern and secure network through IP-MPLS techniques (Multi Protocol Label Switching), and connecting departments to the network of secure optic fibers by a single broadband line “ADSL on IP MPLS”, with the required fluidity and speed.

The meeting reviewed reforms carried out by the administration over the past two decades to develop human resources and its relations with citizens and companies, as well as to improve its international rating, particularly in the area of administrative services and e-government.

The meeting also looked at the implementation of the content of the presidential program on modernization of the Tunisian administration, development of its performance and the quality of its services and amelioration of its relations with parties applying for its services.

The country ranked second in terms of the online participation of citizens, under the UN 2014 e-government survey. ''This prize recognizes national efforts in this field'', the secretary of State for public administration, Anouar Ben Khalifa, told a press conference. He added that, ''this prize will contribute to improve the business climate and will be able to attract foreign investments''.