Tunis: Participants in the preliminary meeting for the implementation of the North African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation Initiative (NA-MRHI), which began work on Tuesday and will continue until April 18, stressed the need to speed up the adoption and implementation of regulatory frameworks for the medicines industry, quality control and improved marketing. The main objective of the meeting is to consider and lay the foundations for the implementation of the initiative to harmonise the regulation of medicinal products in North Africa. The meeting was attended by Health Minister Ali Mrabet, adviser to the World Health Organisation's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (WHO Emro) Houda Langar, AUDA-NEPAD representative Chimwemwe Chamdimba, and several health sector officials from North African countries. This meeting, the first of its kind, provides an important opportunity for North African countries to step up their efforts to coordinate regulations and laws in the pharmaceuticals and medici nes sector, Minister Ali Mrabet told TAP. "The aim is to promote this industry, improve the quality of medicines and controls, and streamline their marketing in the promising African market." This meeting is part of the national strategy for the promotion and development of the Tunisian pharmaceutical industry, he stressed, indicating that the establishment of a National Agency for Medicines will encompass many departments involved in the pharmaceutical sector. This will contribute to the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Tunisia and improve its quality and its promotion nationally and internationally. Mrabet emphasised that the National Agency for Medicines will make it possible to reduce the time taken to grant licences for the promotion of medicines to manufacturing companies to a reasonable time, with the aim of developing the Tunisian pharmaceutical industry, attracting investment in the pharmaceutical sector and supplying medicines to the local market, as well as developing exports. For h er part, Houda Langar told TAP that this meeting, organised in partnership between the WHO and the African Union, aims to unify the efforts of the countries of North Africa in the field of the control of medicines, the development of the pharmaceutical industry and the coordination of regulations between these countries, with the aim of facilitating the process of promoting and marketing medicines in Africa. She pointed out that the World Health Organisation is playing an active role in partnership with the African Union in order to motivate the countries of North Africa to work together to overcome all obstacles at legislative level in order to improve Africans' access to safe and effective medicines. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
New small businesses rescue programme launched
Tunis: The Employment and Vocational Training Ministry, Tuesday, announced the launch of a new rescue programme for small businesses, in cooperation with the French Development Agency and the Tunisian Solidarity Bank, for an amount of TND 26.5 million. According to a press release published by the ministry, the programme is part of the Training and Professional Integration Support Program (PAFIP), which seeks to implement the State policy aimed at supporting the economic empowerment of young people, by diversifying funding sources and developing business support mechanisms. A working session dedicated to the presentation of the broad outlines of this programme was held on Tuesday, under chairmanship of Chief of Staff of Employment and Vocational Training Minister, Abdelkader Jamal. This includes the official launch of the registration platform from April 16 to May 15 for the benefit of 4,500 small businesses facing difficulty. The Chief of Staff pointed out that the programme will continue until the end of June 2025 and will include the various support and financing processes for the benefit of nearly 700 small businesses in difficulty and able to recover. Support will be offered to these companies by rescheduling their debts with the Tunisian Solidarity Bank as well as granting loans for expansion or restoration of the pace of activity under favorable conditions with a ceiling of 50,000 dinars, (a rate interest of 5% and a grace period of 12 months). Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Final workshop to prepare and adopt 5-year strategy of Association of SOS Children’s Villages begins in Hammamet
Tunis: The final workshop to draw up and adopt the five-year strategy of the Tunisian Association of SOS Children's Villages began on Tuesday in Hammamet and will run until 19 April, in the presence of the organisation's executives and representatives of the regional office of the International Federation of SOS Children's Villages. It is the eighteenth in a series of workshops organised by the regional office of the International Federation of SOS Children's Villages for West, Central and African countries. The latter brings together 21 associations, including the Tunisian Association of SOS Children's Villages, according to a press release from the association. Assistant Regional Director of the International Federation of SOS Children's Villages, Sévérine Tragus, stressed that the results of this workshop, which has a strategic and forward-looking dimension, will open up important opportunities for the Tunisian Association of SOS Children's Villages to develop and consolidate its achievements. These inc lude, in particular financial autonomy with regard to external funding, increasing the number of beneficiaries and improving the quality of services provided to children without support. For his part, President of the Association, Mohamed Megdich, stressed the need to work towards strengthening the social security of children without support through the various programmes. He called for improving the quality and level of services, establishing transparency and good governance as strategic guidelines, and preserving the Association's independence and ability to support the State's efforts for children, through interventions in line with the mechanisms put in place in the field of child protection. These interventions include integrated housing, family support and neglect prevention programme and foster families, in addition to support for integrated centres and child protection associations, he added. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse
Tunisia displays 14 art pieces at Africa and Byzantium travelling exhibition
Tunis: After an initial display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from November 19, 2023 to March 03, 2024, drawing nearly 190,000 visitors, a collection of works from Tunisia on the Byzantine period (from the foundation of Constantinople to the fall of the city by the Ottomans) is currently on show at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, as part of the 2nd stage of the largest travelling exhibition in the United States of America "Africa and Byzantium," held on April 14-July 21, 2024. The pieces, from three museums - the National Museum of Carthage, the Archaeological Museum of Enfidha and the National Museum of Islamic Art in Raqqada - TAP learned, bear witness to the contribution of African know-how and its influence on art and culture throughout the Byzantine Empire in its eastern and western parts, highlighting the influence of North Africa on Byzantine civilisation in its artistic, cultural and religious expressions. The collection consists of two mosaics, including "The Lady of Carthage," considered to be one of the exhibition's masterpieces. This emblematic piece from the Carthage Museum is a female representation that should be the personification of the city of Carthage in the Christian era. Also on display are Christian lamps depicting Adam and Eve and the twelve apostles, terracotta tiles depicting the sacrifice of Abram, with biblical themes and Christian motifs, and two sheets of the Koran dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, when Africa became a Muslim empire. A delegation from the National Heritage Institute (INP) led by its Managing Director Tarek Baccouche, attended the inauguration of the second and final phase of the travelling exhibition, in which Tunisia is participating alongside several other countries including Egypt, Morocco, France and Greece, with collections dating from the 4th and 5th centuries and tracing the relationship between Africa and the Byzantine Empire. According to information presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "the Africa and Byzantium exhibiti on recounts Africa's central role in international networks of trade and cultural exchange. With nearly 200 artworks rarely or never before seen in public, Africa and Byzantium sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of medieval Africa." "This long-overdue exhibition highlights how the continent contributed to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of the vibrant multiethnic societies of north and east Africa that shaped the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond." Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse