Tunisia

Maghreb country / State Visit (28-30 April 2008)

After South Africa and Great Britain, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy went for her third state visit to Tunisia. Greeted on leaving the airplane by President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the French couple was given a welcome on the avenue Habib-Bourguiba, the main road of the capital decorated for the occasion in French and Tunisian colors. The French delegation, which included no less than seven ministers, walked up the avenue.  Tunisia is set to be home to the future secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, and this was one of the main items for discussion. Others were  cooperation for nuclear energy, but also human rights. This last subject was approached, in parallel with agreements enabling Tunisia to access French high technology and contracts aimed at making it easier for skilled immigrant workers to come to France, by the junior minister for human rights. While Rama Yade met with Mokhtar Trifi, president of the Tunisian League of Human Rights, and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy visited a charity for orphans. It was here, in Tunisia, that she announced her first thoughts for a foundation:”People send me a lot of documents, which I study carefully.“