UAE telecom project to create 26,000 jobs in Tunisia

2009-01-14

With the help of Emirati investors, Tunisia will be the first country in the region to host an integrated telecom city. Tunisians welcome the new project, which will create thousands of jobs.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 14/01/09

[Getty Images] Young Tunisian graduates increase demand for new jobs by 88,000 each year.

Vision 3, a consortium of Gulf Finance House, Ithmaar Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment House, announced the launch on Tuesday (January 14th), of the 3 billion-dollar Tunis Telecom City (TTC) project. TTC will be a telecom city in Tunis designed to integrate in one location the infrastructural, research and development, educational and support services that will allow telecom and IT sector entities to flourish.

The new project has revived the hopes of many Tunisians, especially university graduates, of finding employment.

The construction of TTC, according to Issam Youssef Janahi, executive chairman of the Gulf Finance House, will create 26,000 jobs.

"The Tunis Telecom City will be one of the main cities in the North Africa region," stated Janahi at a press conference following his meeting with President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Tunis was selected "based on the availability of the suitable factors for investments, as indicated in the testimony of the Davos World Economic Forum in its report of 2007, which put Tunisia in the forefront of countries where the modern technologies are available", he added. "There are 8,000 graduates every year who are specialised in this field. All these factors are considered positive for entering into such an industry and for attracting investments to the communication technology sector."

"I think that the project will dissuade me from planning to immigrate to a European country," said Imed Ben Mrad, who has a university degree in programming. "It has given me hope that my three years of unemployment since I graduated will end."

Haythem Belaid, who holds a high degree in e-commerce, is also hopeful he will find a suitable position at TTC.

Chief Editor of Al Khabeer, Zmorda Dalhoumi, told Magharebia that the fact that many investors, especially from other Arab and Gulf countries, were interested in investing in Tunisia "didn't come out of nowhere, but was the result of the huge efforts and the distinguished standing that our country has won."

"These projects," she added, "would open the door of investments on the one hand, and would develop the economic and commercial sectors of the country on the other. They would also provide livelihood and employment for thousands of university graduates. This, in turn, would allow those young people in Tunisia who are looking for professional stability to overcome the obstacles of getting into working life."

"Encouraging Arab and foreign investments was one of the important measures taken by the government to deal with the issue of unemployment, and to confront the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis," said Finance Minister Rachid Kechich on Saturday (January 10th).

Tunisian authorities are giving utmost priority to employing the jobless young, especially university graduates. In a seminar held in Tunis on employment last October, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi estimated the size of the extra demand for work in his country each year to be 88,000, of which 55% are university graduates.

Last March, a survey conducted by the World Bank in Tunisia revealed that 46% of active young people did not find jobs 18 months after graduation. Those with master degrees and with high technical degrees represent 90% of certificate holders. The survey also revealed that the rate of unemployment among graduates from the high institutes for technological studies was 50%.