Tunisia: European Public Administration Encourages Capacity Building in Regional Development Bodies

To strengthen the capacities of Tunisian officials and institutions on local economic development is the objective of the Twinning project between EU and Tunisia which is dedicated to provide support for the Regional Development Bodies whose Piloting Committee was held at the end of October.
The meeting with Tunisian, French and Italian project partners allowed for the examination of the results deriving from the first one year and a half period of activities which appear to be satisfying: over 200 expertise days so far provided by the Italian experts from the Veneto region, the Institute for Industrial promotion and Formez. Similar activities have been carried out by the French experts from DIACT  - Délégation Interministérielle pour l'Aménagement du Territoire, for a total amount of approximately 650.000 euros. 
The topics dealt with during the interventions led by Italian experts and officials are the following: instruments for the promotion of investment, assessment and sectoral studies, business intelligence, the European networks dedicated to economic development, organization and management of human resources as well as cooperation techniques. Particular attention has been paid to the ICT sector in the Tunisian Public Administration, namely a prototype reserved area focussed on the project, while training sessions concentrated on web communication, the Geographical Information System, management of databases, analysis of ICT structures and the development of a strategy for their improvement.
The study visits realized so far, are three: PACA (Provence – Alpes- Cote d'Azur) and Ile-de-France welcomed nine directors from the Regional Development Bodies, while the first study visit to Italy was realized in June at the Development Agency of the Area Nolana.
A second visit has been scheduled in Venice by the end of the month for the purpose of presenting the successful case of the Information System of the Veneto Regional Administration to the Tunisian officials. Communication and information structures and instruments of the Veneto Region Administration represent a case of excellence in the sphere of the Italian PA. Furthermore during the visit, both the web or traditional communication strategies which have been adopted by some Veneto Region entities will be presented, in particular by those which focus on the promotion of investment like UnionCamere Veneto, Centro Estero Camere di Commercio (Foreign Centre of the Chambers of Commerce) and API Industria.
Beyond this case study, the meetings will allow to identify the new opportunities for partnership between the beneficiary institutions, their Italian counterparts and other entities which promote the internationalization of production systems whose attention on countries like Tunisia, continue to grow.