TAYP Editorial June 2014

Dear TAYP members and friends

We are almost half way through 2014 and like they say; time flies when you are having fun. At TAYP, we are accustomed at working hard and having fun. The past few months have been full of interesting activities, and projects. The articles within this newsletter will shed light on our member’s accomplishments for the past few weeks. So let me share of with you some snippets of what you will read in this edition of our newsletter.

One of our key objectives, as a diaspora organization is to ameliorate and increase economic and partnership activities between the USA and Tunisia. Supporting and enhancing the image of Tunisia, in particular as a growing democracy and an investment destination, is one of our key priorities. I am sure you are going to enjoy reading an article in this issue by Mohamed Malouche making the case for how the Tunisian Diaspora could attract FDI to Tunisia. It is important to mention that the Integration Team at the World Bank initiated a survey targeted at the Diaspora of the MENA region. The goal is to understand how a diaspora can contribute to the economic development of their home country. You can read more about this survey in this newsletter.

In partnership with the American Council for Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), TAYP hosted a delegation of 7 young American political leaders in Tunisia from May 20 to May 25, 2014. This event, in its second edition, aims to strengthen bilateral relations between the United States and Tunisia and enable people to people exchanges to enable further economic cooperation, ties and exchanges. In this edition of the newsletter, Mohamed Bouras chronicles ACYPL visit for us while Michael Blumer writes about the lively debate about Tunisia with members of the delegation.
On the events sides, TAYP Tunisia attended a roundtable addressing the role of policy analysts in Tunisia. Mondher Khanfir writes about the need to create a generation of young policy analysts especially during a time of major political changes. Mohamed Malouche spoke at a conference hosted by the Centre for Transatlantic Relations at John Hopkins SAIS. During the conference, he articulated Tunisia’s value proposition as an investment destination. You can read more about Mohamed intervention in this newsletter.

Anis Mnif and Wassim Ben Yahia share with us an update on the Handicraft project. The objective of this US Embassy in Tunisia funded project is to build an innovative and market driven export strategy for Tunisia handicraft exporters.

Lastly, our work to support the democratic transition in Tunisia never stops and was culminated recently by having TAYP as one of the signatories to a letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry. A copy of the letter is published in this newsletter.

Dear readers, I hope that you enjoy reading about our activities and to continue supporting Tunisia.

Firas BenAchour
President
@firasbenachour