| 30 October 2012 | 6 Comments
 
 

Hedi Ben Abbes, Tunisia’s Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the Americas and Asia, is visiting the U.S. from October 28 to November 4.

According to a statement released yesterday by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the visit is part of a plan to reinvigorate Tunisian-American relations in light of recent events.

On September 14, the US Embassy in Tunis was stormed by demonstrators, who were denouncing the depiction of the prophet Mohamed in an amateur film that was produced by an Egyptian copt in the US. The American Cooperative School in Tunis was looted and vandalized by protesters that day as well.

The U.S. Department of State has since issued two travel warnings for Tunisia on September 14 and October 19 and ordered the departure of its non-essential U.S. diplomatic staff.

The Secretary of State will be meeting in New York with investors, CEOs of IT companies, and civil society representatives.

Moreover, Ben Abbes will attend a preparatory meeting in Washington to discuss the agenda of the 9th Forum for the Future, which will take place this year on December 12 and 13 in Tunis. The forum will be co-chaired by both the U.S. and Tunisia.

The Forum for the Future is a joint initiative by the countries of the Broader Middle East and North Africa region (BMENA) and the industrialized countries of the Group of Eight. It aims to develop joint strategies that support growth in the BMENA region.

Ben Abbes travelled this past March to the U.S. and sat down afterwards for an exclusive interview with Tunisia Live during which he announced the creation of several development programs to be sponsored by the U.S.  In the interview, he explained that the U.S. was helping Tunisia to put its financial house in order by providing a sovereign loan guarantee of $30 million, which was signed on June 8.


Comments (6)

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  1. MSMII says:
    30 October 2012 at 21:00

    Tunisia, the birth place of the Arab Spring, has four Islamic groups, with connections to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Under their majority control basic human rights are being crushed.

    http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/tunisian-winds-of-political-change.html?m=1

    Reply
    • angela says:
      31 October 2012 at 00:04

      thanks for the link it was very interesting. Very sad predicament Tunisia finds itself in. Unless the majority stand up to be counted the minority will rule. The minority groups are not thinking about sharing anything and the west is stupid if it donates on single cent to a government who does not plan to treat its people right.

      Reply
      • seifeddine says:
        31 October 2012 at 17:37

        I think the article that he linked to is a fantasy in and I would advise to read more from all sides before making an off the cuff judgement.

        Reply
        • angela says:
          01 November 2012 at 03:04

          how on earth would you know if my judgement was off the cuff….since this site is about opinions then i respect yours and am entitled to mine. thanks for the advice.

          Reply
    • seifeddine says:
      31 October 2012 at 17:34

      regurgitating old ZABA fantasies in order to to justify the vilification, and therefore torture and imprisonment of the Ennahdha movement activists.. All I can do is paraphrase, what John Esposito, Michael Willis, and others experts have said before in response to these wild conspiracy theories… You are nuts.

      Reply
  2. Faith says:
    30 October 2012 at 16:40

    Didn’t he hear about the hurricane before leaving for the U.S.? Both New York and Washington are affected and I doubt he will be able to meet with anyone on October 29th and 30th at least.

    Reply

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