I. General information
Name of the country: Tunisia*** and the State
Area: 162,155 square kilometers
Population: 9,100,000 (1998)
Ethnicity: more than 90% Arabs, with the remainder being Berbers and Jews.
Religion: Islam is the state religion, with a small Catholic minority.
Language: Arabic is the national language and French is commonly spoken.
Capital: Tunis
President: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
National Day: March 20 (1956)
Physical geography: located in the northern tip of Africa. West and Algeria as a neighbor, southeast and Libya border, north and east of the Mediterranean Sea, across the Tunis Channel and Italy, the coastline of 1200 km long. The northern part of the tropical Mediterranean-type climate, hot and dry in summer, warm and humid in winter. The southern part of the tropical desert climate. August is the hottest month, with an average daily temperature of 21°C-33°C. January is the coldest month, with an average daily temperature of 6°C-14°C.
Administrative divisions: The country is divided into 23 provinces, with 212 districts, 1,050 townships, and 245 municipalities. The names of the governorates are as follows: Tunis, Ariana, Ben Arous, Nabeul, Zaghwan, Bissetta, Beja, Kendubai, Kef, Siriane, Kairouan, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, Sousse, Monastir, Mahdiyeh, Sfax, Gafsa, Tozeur, Jibiri, Gabès, Medenin, Tatavina.
Brief history: In the early 9th century BC, the Phoenicians founded the city of Carthage in the coastal area of present-day Tunis Bay, which later developed into a slave power. In 146 B.C., it became the province of Africa in the Roman Empire. 5-6 century was occupied by the Vandals and the Byzantines. 703 was conquered by the Muslim Arabs. 13th century, the Hafs dynasty established the powerful Tunisian state. 1574 fell into the Turkish Ottoman Empire, a province. 1881 became the French protectorate. 1956, March 20, France recognized Tunisia's independence. On July 25, 1957, the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia adopted a resolution deposing the king and declaring the establishment of the State of Tunisia***. After independence, Bourguiba was appointed as the first president, and has been in this position. November 7, 1987, Prime Minister Ben Ali succeeded Bourguiba as president of the *** and State.
Politics: In April 1989, Tunisia held presidential and legislative elections, Ben Ali was elected president, the Constitutional Union won all the seats. 1994, Tunisia held presidential and legislative elections, Ben Ali was re-elected president, produced the first since independence, the ruling party of the Constitutional Union accounted for the overwhelming majority of the multi-party parliament. President Ben Ali has been in power for more than a decade, and the country has implemented the basic state policy of "development through stability, and development through stability". 1999, the country's domestic political situation continued to remain stable, and the economy continued to develop, and on October 24th, the country held its first post-independence presidential election with multi-party participation, and Ben Ali won with a high number of votes, and was once again re-elected as president; and in the legislative elections held at the same time, the seats of the opposition parties were increased, and the Constitutional Union still won an overwhelming majority of seats. On November 17, Ben reshuffled the government and reorganized the political bureau of the Constitutional Union, giving more prominence to the economic cabinet while maintaining the relative stability of the leadership and the balance of power, as well as policy continuity.
Foreign policy: TU pursues a moderate, pragmatic, balanced and non-aligned foreign policy externally, taking the development of relations with the LAS countries and other Arab countries as the basis of diplomacy, and taking the development of relations with Europe and the United States as a diplomatic priority for the sake of security interests and the needs of economic development, signing the Associated States Agreement with the European Union, and the military and security cooperation with the United States has significantly strengthened in recent years. At present, the political situation in the country remains stable, the economy continues to develop, and social life is peaceful.
Military: The National Army was established in 1956, and the Navy and Air Force were established in 1959. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and compulsory military service has been introduced since 1975 for a period of one year.
The total military strength is 35,000. Army 27,000 people, the army establishment *** 15 regiments, with all kinds of tanks and armored vehicles 405, guns 482, missiles 156 (with). The Navy, with 4,500 men, has 36 ships of all types. The Air Force has 3,500 men, with 29 combat aircraft, 64 other aircraft, and 41 helicopters. There are 12,000 paramilitaries and 13,000 police officers, and military expenditure amounted to 1.7% of GNP in 1998 (source: Quarterly Economic Review 1999/2000). Military equipment comes mainly from France, the United States, and Italy.
The 1999 defense budget was 419 million dinars, or 4.4% of the total national budget.
Second, the economic and trade situation:
After the independence of the Turkmenistan, all the lands occupied by foreigners and some enterprises operated by foreigners were recovered in the form of ransom and nationalization, and the policy of economic restructuring and reforms has been carried out since 1986 with the main contents of liberalization of trade, privatization of the state-owned enterprises, reduction of administrative intervention in the economy, opening up of the country to the outside world, absorption of foreign capital and foreign aid. Currently, three types of ownership coexist in the Sudden Economy: State-run, private and public-private partnerships. Since Ben Ali came to power in 1987, thanks to the implementation of economic policies that are basically in line with national conditions, the economy has gained a better momentum of development, despite such difficulties as persistently high unemployment, the decline in foreign exchange reserves and the increase in the balance-of-payments deficit. The economy is growing steadily, with an average annual growth rate of more than 4.5%, and the living standard of the people is gradually improving, making it one of the healthiest countries in Africa.2000 The political situation in the country is stable, and the economy is developing steadily.
Main economic figures:
GDP: $13.6 billion
Economic growth rate: 5.4%
Per capita income: $2,328
Inflation rate: 3%
Unemployment rate: 15.7%
Foreign debt: $8.3 billion
Foreign exchange reserves: $2.1 billion (about 3% in '97)
Foreign exchange reserves: $2.1 billion (about 3% in '97) Foreign exchange reserves: 2.1 billion U.S. dollars (97 years, about 3 months of imports with foreign exchange)
Exchange rate: 1 U.S. dollar = 1.16 dinars
Resources: the sudden resource is relatively poor, mainly phosphate, proven reserves of 2 billion tons, 10 million tons of crude ore per year, 7.5 million tons of processed commercial phosphate, 1.1 million tons of phosphoric acid, 1.6 million tons of fertilizers (diammonium, three materials), annual output value of about 600 million U.S. dollars. The annual output value is about 600 million US dollars, and it is operated by the state. In addition, the annual production of about 3.5 million tons of oil and 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Agriculture: Suddenly agriculture occupies an important position in the national economy, with the agricultural population accounting for more than 60% of the country's population, and it is mainly operated by private individuals. The main agricultural products include wheat, barley, grapes, olives, dates and oranges. In a normal year, the food self-sufficiency rate is 60 per cent, and in 1996 there was a bumper agricultural harvest, with a record production of 2.6 million tons of grain and 200,000 tons of olive oil. There are 60 million olive trees covering an area of 1.6 million hectares.
Industry: the main oil extraction industry, phosphate-based chemical industry, textiles, iron and steel. The main products are crude oil, fertilizers, cement, textiles and leather products.
Tourism: plays an important role in the national economy, is the first source of foreign exchange in the country, with an annual income of about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, the annual reception of tourists of about 4 million nights.
Foreign trade: foreign trade is one of the priorities of the economic development strategy of the sudden. 1986, the sudden government to promote trade liberalization policy, the establishment of specialized agencies, the development of international markets, the use of credit, and the gradual abolition of licensing, and free imports of goods has accounted for the import of 85% of the types of commodities.
The country's foreign trade system of state-run, public-private partnership and private enterprises co-exist. 1994 promulgated a new Foreign Trade Law to encourage the role of non-state components, but the actual progress is not great. State-owned enterprises play a dominant role in the country's import and export trade, accounting for more than 65 percent of the total, and control the import and export of essential commodities such as grain, sugar, tea, fuel, cooking oil, and pharmaceuticals, as well as domestic distribution channels. Public-private joint ventures, mostly joint ventures between the state and foreign investors, are few in number but generally large in scale. The private businessmen are scattered all over the towns and cities, and they are more active in the sudden foreign trade.
In 1998, the country's import and export trade totaled 13.8 billion U.S. dollars, of which 5.6 billion U.S. dollars in exports and 8.2 billion U.S. dollars in imports, with a deficit of 2.6 billion U.S. dollars. Of which, exports 6 billion dollars, imports 8.7 billion dollars, a deficit of 2.7 billion dollars. 2000, the sudden import and export trade of about 17 billion U.S. dollars, imports 10 billion U.S. dollars, exports 7 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, compared with 1999, an increase of 16%, 16.7%, 16.4%. The sudden foreign trade deficit year after year, mainly by remittances (the sudden in Europe about 500,000 expatriates), tourism revenue to make up.
The main export commodities are textiles, phosphates, crude oil and petroleum products and agricultural products. The country is the world's second largest exporter of olive oil after the European Union. 1990-1997, the average annual export of 110,000 tons of olive oil, worth 200 million U.S. dollars, accounting for about 50 percent of its agricultural exports. The main imports are daily necessities, textile raw materials, electromechanical equipment, food and medical supplies. The main trading partners are the European Union countries, with 70% of imports and 77% of exports with them. France, Italy and Germany are important trading partners.
Since the implementation of the policy of reform and opening up in 1987, the country has enjoyed political stability, social peace, favorable policies (the law on encouraging investment was enacted in 1993), and close ties with European countries, attracting 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment as of 1997***.
In 1990, Tunisia acceded to the GATT, and in 1995, Tunisia signed an association agreement with the European Union, which entered into force in March 1998. The main content of the agreement is the gradual elimination of tariffs and the opening up of the market, and the completion of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010, when, with the exception of special arrangements for individual agricultural products of Tunisia, all products of the two sides will enjoy zero-tariff treatment.
/Africa/africaYJ/northafrica/Tunisia/Tunisia.htm