According to Salem Akrout, CEO of the Management Unit of the P3A program, the Tunisian government has reached significant levels of efficiency, but today it is called to modernize itself in order to better serve the interests of citizens, businesses and its international partners. To do this, it must rely on its own resources, particularly human resources to develop institutional capacity.
Interview:
Can you give us an idea about the P3A program?
The Support Programs to the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement (P3A) are institutional support programs designed to support the implementation of the Association Agreement and to promote the success of the Tunisian- European Partnership through the exchange of expertise and good practices between the Tunisian Authorities and their European counterparts.
For the implementation of these activities, the program uses public expertise within institutional twinning, private technical expertise (framework contracts, technical assistance contracts in the short and long term), supply contracts and subsidy contracts for international organizations to implement technical assistance projects, in addition to the support of TAIEX and SIGMA mechanisms.
The main areas of intervention of P3A are:
• Trade facilitation and trade diversification
• Strengthening and implementation of economic cooperation
• Strengthening of social cooperation
• Development of the service sector
• Support for Democratic Transition
The first “P3A” program was signed in 2003 for an amount of 20 million Euros, the second ” P3A (II)” program, started in 2009 with a budget of 30 million Euros and the third “program P3A “for the support of democratic transition in Tunisia was signed in 2012 for an amount of 25 million Euros.
The Program Management Unit (PMU), under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is responsible for the implementation of various programs.
Can you take stock of the activity, number of projects, investment cost … since the establishment of the P3A program?
The amounts allocated were incurred; it should be noted that in addition to services contracts and equipment contracts made, 38 twinning projects were signed, making Tunisia the first country in the southern Mediterranean shore to benefit of this funding.
What are the main constraints faced at the Tunisian administration?
The program attracts considerable interest from the Tunisian administration as reflected by the number of projects and the consumed budget of 75 million Euros. This trend has continued after the revolution 2011. Indeed, the support to the program has diversified to reach new areas (governance, development of democracy …).
According to you, what reforms are needed to promote the Tunisian administration?
The Tunisian government has reached significant levels of efficiency thanks to the many upgrading programs initiated as testified by reports of specialized agencies. Nevertheless and faced with new economic and socio-political challenges at regional and international levels, the Tunisian government is expected to modernize itself to better serve the interests of citizens, businesses and its international partners. For this purpose, the administration relies on its own human resources to develop the institutional capacity on the basis of partnership and mutually beneficial experience.
Do you think that the Tunisian economy, in the current phase, is able to cope with the openness and competition?
It should be noted that Tunisia, at regional level, has always been part of pioneering countries in the economic field as testified by the degree of competitiveness of Tunisian companies. The Infrastructure, human resources and legal framework, in particular, and the expected changes after the revolution will only enhance the economic position of Tunisia.
