ASEAN, Tunisia to Forge Closer Ties

aseanlogoJAKARTA, 4 February 2015 – H.E. Mourad Belhassen officially assumed his position as the first Ambassador of the Republic of Tunisia to ASEAN when he presented his Letter of Credence to H.E. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN, at the ASEAN Secretariat yesterday.

SG Minh congratulated Ambassador Belhassen for his new role and looked forward to working closely with himin enhancing the relationship between ASEAN and the Republic of Tunisia as well as ASEAN and African continent.

 

Ambassador Belhassen stressed the importance for Tunisia of havingpractical cooperation with ASEAN. He highlighted the great potentials of boosting trade volume and investment flows between ASEAN and Tunisia. He further informed that considering its strategic location, Tunisia could serve as a gateway for ASEAN countries to access markets in the Arab Maghreb as well as in the African countries. He sought the opportunity of exploring ways and means for the future cooperation between ASEAN and Tunisia.

 

SG Minh informed the Tunisian Ambassador that ASEAN is doubling its efforts to build the ASEAN Community by 2015, and the support and assistance from external partners and friends are very important for ASEAN in this endeavor. He stressed the importance for ASEAN to reach out to new and emerging partners, including individual countries from Africa. In this regard, SG Minh welcomed the keen interest of Tunisia to strengthen ties with ASEAN.