THE INITIATIVES
OF PRESIDENT ZINE EL ABIDINE
strengthening Tunisia's presence on the internatioal
scene
Tunisia's
reputation at the international gatherings it attends is
a brilliant one, given the series of avant-garde initiatives
started by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali that touch
directly or indirectly on all those questions and issues
that are central to the concerns of the international community
and public opinion.
By
means of such initiatives, President Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali has successfully given continuity to Tunisia's history,
civilisation and glory, built up by successive generations
of reformers, leaders and pioneers.
The
President's political, humanitarian, economic and cultural
initiatives are the result of the coming of a New Era in
the history of the country, an era of change to back up
the basic elements of a country which has always fought
against extremism, which has always been a fervent defender
of both religion and progress, and which has ceaselessly
striven to install the values of peace
and security around the world.
The
President has made sure that such constant elements were
a basic part of the reform work undertaken in Tunisia to
bring about prosperity, development, progress and well-being.
His
first initiative concerned the creating of a World
Solidarity Fund (WSF). This avant-garde initiative,
with its humanistic mission, illustrating the President
of the Republic's humanistic vision, was adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly and brought its architect
the respect and esteem of the international community for
an action designed to fight against poverty and exclusion
in the world.
The
WSF has become a UN project that has very been well received
throughout the world and is supported by both states and
international organisations and associations. It is today
at the heart of the debates taking place in several international
forums as one of the major approaches to development in
the world.
International
gatherings have supported and backed this initiative and
worked to set up those mechanisms that are necessary to
make its noble objectives into hard fact; this is because
it enshrines the right of peoples to live in dignity and
because it complies with the principles and values advocated
by the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
The
initiative was first backed by the League of Arab States,
the African Union (formerly the Organization of African
Unity, the OAU), the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO),
the Non-Aligned Countries movement, the Group of 77, the
first Europe-Africa Summit, and the Chinese-African Summit.
But
the main and strongest support for the initiative came from
the 24th Extraordinary Session of the United Nations General
Assembly, meeting in Geneva from 26 June to 1 July 2000.
That session was devoted to following up the recommendations
made at the second World Summit on Social Development, held
in Copenhagen in March 1995. The initiative of President
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for setting up a WSF was one of
the initiatives that the UN General Assembly adopted, given
its humanitarian aspect and the nobility of its objectives,
in that it called for the fight against poverty and the
promotion of the poorest parts of the world.
President
Ben Ali's second initiative was also widely welcomed on
the international scene, particularly interesting the developing
countries. It concerned the President of the Republic's
call in 1993, made from the platform of the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, that the debt of the developing countries
should be recycled.
This
initiative sprang from the Head of State's certainty that
it was necessary to give the developing countries the necessary
opportunities to carry out their development projects and
find suitable solutions to the problem of the debt that
these countries had accumulated.
This
judicious suggestion was an excellent initiative on the
part of the President to mobilise the available potential
in the field. It also reflects the reforming vision that
lies at the heart of the societal project initiated in Tunisia
by the Change.
Indeed,
this proposal aims at reducing the gap that separates the
developing countries from the rich, particularly the European
countries, who are called on to make further efforts to
help the developing countries respond, in great need as
they are of resources, means and mechanisms to ensure their
economic take-off and development. This suggestion also
aims at giving the developing countries the best possible
chance to successfully integrate into the world economic
circuit.
As
well as the economic aspect that is a feature of these initiatives
and that also constitutes the guiding principle of all the
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's choices and the basis
of his philosophy and future-based approach, there is a
political aspect to other of the Head of State's initiatives
that reflect the depth of his reforming vision and his humanitarian
sentiments.
The
initiatives concerning the drafting of a Code of Conduct
for the fight against terrorism, the promoting of dialogue
between-civilisations and religions, the organising
of a world conference for peace and Tunisia's participation
in the UN peace keeping forces around the world all illustrate
the Head of State's wish to put at humanity's disposal the
wealth of Tunisia's three thousand years of history and
civilisation.
As
regards the fight against terrorism,
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali called in his January
2000 speech, made before the members of the accredited diplomatic
bodies in Tunis, for a Code of Conduct to be drawn up for
the fight against terrorism.
This
call aimed at urging the international community to work
together to wipe out all forms of terrorism, and exhorting
it to implement an overall, coherent world strategy in this
field, setting out clear objectives and setting up the mechanisms
necessary for this, within a precise UN framework.
As
part of this approach, the President called for a further
strengthening of cooperation and solidarity and for the
mobilising of efforts to attack this phenomenon at source.
