Prime Minister presents Government Declaration on draft 12th Development Plan

As instructed by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi presented, on Tuesday in Bardo, the Government Declaration on the draft 12th Development Plan (2010-2014), in the presence of Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Foued Mebazaa and Government members.

The prime minister said the 12th Plan is an instrument to materialize the presidential program “Together We Meet Challenges,” which will help Tunisia enter a new stage driven by other qualitative objectives, namely speeding up the development and modernization processes, as well as raising the pace of achievements in all political, social and cultural areas.

He emphasized the guidelines and objectives of the current five-year period based on a set of gains and achievements accomplished over the past two decades of such reforms that allowed to record a qualitative leap in all fields.

This change, he pointed out, is reflected through the continuous progress characterizing political life on the way to anchoring the pluralistic democratic process, enhancing human rights in theory and practice and ensuring the national economy’s strength, efficiency and competitiveness.

It has also materialized, he said, in the integration in the globalised economic space and building Tunisia’s capacity to cope with the ups and downs of the world juncture.

The prime minister also reviewed the social indicators which have recorded continuous improvement at all levels.

This improvement was reflected, he pointed out, in Tunisia’s ranking on the top in the world since 2000 in terms of rapid progress of the Human Development Index which combines factors related to health, education, acquisition of knowledge, income, living conditions and quality of life.

The prime minister also reviewed the positive results Tunisia scored during the 2007-2009 period in matters of growth, per capita income, employment and promotion of global investment and national savings, in addition to the country’s success to contain the current deficit of the balance of payments, which demonstrated the pertinence of the approach to preservation of the country’s financial balances.

Mr. Ghannouchi said the objectives set for the next five-year Development Plan consist in achieving a GDP growth rate of 5.5% at constant prices, in addition to the development of sources of growth and increasing the share of high knowledge-contents activities from 25% in 2009 to 30% in 2014.

They also include raising the per capita income to 8,300 dinars in 2014 and covering all additional job applications, which will help bring down the unemployment rate by one percentage point and a half, in accordance with the presidential programme, while focusing efforts particularly on university-graduated job seekers whose share in the additional demands will increase from 60% presently to 70% in 2014, in such a manner as to cut noticeably the unemployment rate for this category.

The prime minister pointed out that Tunisia yearns in the next period to raise the Human Development Index to the level of countries with high human development, i.e., 810 per thousand, and reinforce the financial balances as a fundamental condition for ensuring sustainable development for the present and future generations and preserving Tunisia’s credibility and free decision.

He indicated that efforts will target the reduction of foreign debt to less than 30% of the GDP in 2014, lowering the public debt rate to 40.4% of the GDP and controlling the national economy’s funding needs.

Mr. Ghannouchi laid emphasis on the conditions to achieve objectives of this five-year period. He said, these conditions include strengthening the investment effort, boosting exports and improving productivity.

These factors would help the national economy meet the requirements of this decisive stage and take up challenges, particularly that of employment, in addition to the country’s effective integration into the global economic sphere.

He said action will focus on increasing total investments whose average would reach 11.2% per year. The volume of these investments will stand at 98 billion dinars during the period, i.e., 26% of the GDP by 2014, compared with 23.9% in 2009.

The State’s budget will play a key role in materializing this objective. Indeed, 26.5 billion dinars of development expenditure will be earmarked for the development of basic infrastructure, collective facilities and encouragement of private initiative.

Tunisia seeks to boost the growth pace of the private invest by 13.8%/year and develop methods for attracting foreign investment and diversifying its resources. It also endeavors to attract international firms operating in high added-value technological activities to reach a total volume of 17.2 billion dinars, i.e., nearly 29% of the private sector’s total investments.

Tunisia also aims to increase the contribution of exports to growth to reach over 40%, in addition to strengthening the country’s integration into the global economy by bolstering partnership with the European Union and signing free-trade agreements with other countries in order to open up new opportunities for trade exchange and marketing of national products and services.

A third program to develop exports will be adopted to help firms diversify their products, access new markets and adopt active promotional policies so as to make the most of available opportunities in matters of exports and access to new markets.

Efforts will also focus on mobilizing existing capacities to strengthen competitiveness, particularly by enhancing the efficiency of logistics services, transport and banking services, in addition to the different professional services dedicated to companies.

Firms will also be incentivized to increase their intangible investment, guidance and productivity whose contribution to growth would reach 50% by 2014.

In accordance with the guidelines and objectives set in the presidential program, efforts will also centre on strengthening universities’ autonomy and reinforcing the instructors’ training system at the different stages of higher education, in addition to the achievement of a higher rate of co-diplomation between Tunisian universities and those of the developed countries.

The prime minister also said that reinforcement of scientific research and technological innovation is among the priorities of the five-year Plan.

Efforts will revolve around, in this regard, materializing the results of scientific research in projects and technologies applicable in the production field, in addition to encouraging partnership contracts in the area of research/development between production companies, universities and research centres.

Sectoral innovation networks will be notably created, said Mr. Ghannouchi, pointing out that these structures will be made up of economic companies, research and higher-education structures and back-up structures. They will operate in several areas such as energy, biotechnology, food and electronic industries, ICTs and nano-technologies.

The ICTs sector holds a distinguished position in the guidelines of the five-year Plan.

The objectives set in this regard provide particularly for modernizing communication infrastructure and developing digital services.

Mr. Ghannouchi also stressed the link between the preservation of the national economy’s financial balances and energizing sustainable development process, pointing out that the share of national savings will be raised up to 23.6% by 2014, compared with 21.7% in 2009, which would help cover 73.3% of the economy’s funding needs.

The Government will also strive to improve taxation performance, by adopting a coherent program meant to modernize the system and its services, in addition to controlling equalization spending to limit their volume to 1.5 billion dinars/year.

Classified debts are also expected to be brought down to less than 7% in 2014, in accordance with the objective set in the presidential program “Together We Meet Challenges.”

Regarding regional development, the prime minister said the regions’ competitiveness will be reinforced and their economic foundations will be diversified by means of stepping up strategic studies on potentials available in regions, creating a network of industrial and technological complexes, in such a way as to prompt launching of projects in high added-value activities for university graduates’ employment.

An amount of 3 billion dinars will be allocated to projects designed to develop the networks of classified roads and regional roads, to strengthen connection between inland regions and coastal areas and extend the motorway network.

Regarding the social dimension of the 12th Development Plan, the prime minister reminded that the share of social allowances in the GDP will be kept at 20% and that social cover will increase to 98% in 2014, in addition to the need to lavish better attention on persons with special needs and low-income people.

The prime minister said, in this regard, that the health cover will be strengthened through the consolidation of prevention programs and mechanisms, bringing them closer to citizens and improving medical cover, including particularly specialty medicine in priority areas, as part of the strategy meant to improve these regions’ health indicators.

These different development policies would have, he said, a very positive impact on life expectancy at birth, which is to reach 75.2 in 2014, and hence get closer to averages in the developed countries.

Prime Minister Ghannouchi said efforts will be pursued to enhance women’s status within the family and society, as well as in the different political, economic fields and social activities, while lavishing special attention on rural women, through specific programs set up to this effect.

The prime minister also underlined that promoting youth is considered as a fundamental tenet of Tunisia’s development policy, as reflected in the sustained keenness to lend a receptive ear to the generations’ concerns, enhance their guidance, multiply forums of dialogue with them and endeavor to further involve them in public life.

Events to be staged on the occasion of the International Youth Year, he said, will provide an appropriate opportunity to highlight the presidential initiatives, consecrate youth’s aspirations and involve them in designing the country’s future.

Mr. Ghannouchi pointed out that the coming stage will be marked by the organization of the Fourth Youth Consultation and implementation of the national youth strategy, in addition to progress on the path of upgrading and developing sports clubs and youth sports and entertainment clubs.

He also said that, during the coming stage, the cultural sector’s gains will be enriched and its role in stimulating innovation and creation efforts will be reinforced, in addition to the development of cultural industries and consolidation of attention focused on heritage, in light of the increase in the share of the budget earmarked for culture by raising it up to 1.5% by 2014.

The prime minister pointed out that Tunisian expatriates are at the heart of the country and represent a strong pillar for the country’s development.

He reiterated the presidential commitment to strengthen their bonds with the homeland, and further involve the Tunisian expatriate elite and skills in the national development effort.

In another connection, Mr. Ghannouchi reminded of the succession of initiatives taken by the Head of State to boost the democratic and pluralistic process, broaden the scope of participation, multiply spaces of dialogue and consultation and support national political parties and help them promote their role in citizens’ guidance and organization of their participation in political life, in addition to anchoring partnership between the State and civil society in different areas of public interest.

He also underlined that the Youth Parliament, whose setting up is in progress and which will gather representatives from the different political parties represented at the Chamber of Deputies, will certainly enhance youth’s participation in public life and prepare them to shoulder responsibility.

The prime minister said the State will endeavor to promote media in such a manner as to step up national dialogue, anchor the practice of democracy and ensure that this sector meets to the best the national community’s aspirations.

He pointed out, in this regard, that the periodic meetings between Government members and stakeholders in their fields of speciality, which the Tunisian television and radio has started airing, are one of the major illustrations of this approach.

Mr. Ghannouchi said insofar as the State endeavors to consecrate the right to difference of view, freedom of opinion and speech and objective criticism, it does not tolerate in any way overbidding or questioning of the national community’s gains, Tunisia’s vital interests and its economic security, which is part and parcel of its total security; which recently materialized in the adoption of the amendment to Article 61a of the Penal Code.

He underlined, in conclusion, that progress toward anchoring the democratic and pluralistic process on the basis of principles of the republican system and the rule of law and institutions is a principled orientation that consecrates the foundations of comprehensive development with its economic, social, cultural and political dimensions.

(source  TAP)