Tunisia has held yearly investment conferences since the revolution to promote its role as regional hub. Source: Magharebia. By Christiaan Duinmaijer, CEO Assarwa – MENA Business Consultants. Cradle of the Arab Spring, winner of the Nobel Peace Price and international investment destination. Tunisia was praised for its many successes over the last few years, but the road to success is a difficult one as His Excellency Elyes Ghariani, Ambassador of Tunisia in the Netherlands, and Mokhtar Chouari, General Delegate of the FIPA for the Benelux, can attest.

It all started with the 2010 Jasmine revolution when Tunisians took to the streets, demanding bread and jobs. Ambassador Ghariani: “It was a unique revolution as it was not driven by politics or ideology, but by social media and calls for dignity.” After the revolution new political parties were formed, elections were held and work started on a new constitution. However, the country soon faced a growing security crisis, cumulating in a political crisis in 2013 after the assassination of two opposition leaders. Ambassador Ghariani: “Terrorism was a new phenomenon in Tunisia. The Tunisian government spent initially more money on education than on security. Now 20% of the government budget goes to security.” Tunisia emerged stronger from this crisis thanks to its strong civil society, resulting in a new constitution and elections in 2014. Ambassador Ghariani: “The political situation in Tunisia is now excellent. Democracy is not like Nescafé, an instant solution. It needs time to grow.”

However, Tunisia still faced many economic challenges: high unemployment, underdeveloped regions and stagnating growth and investment. In order to tackle these problems the Tunisian government began working on an ambitious development plan, resulting in the National Plan 2016-2020. The plan focuses on good governance, green economy and economic, human and regional development. Mr. Chouari: “The most important goal of this plan is job creation. Unemployment for Tunisians with education is 30%.” Ambassador Ghariani adds: “We want to prevent that unemployed Tunisians join terrorist groups or migrate illegally to Europe. It is better to keep them in Tunisia.” Tunisia also replaced its old investment law with a new one. Mr. Chouari: “The new investment law gives investors more freedom, opens more sectors to foreign investment and offers investors more incentives. The old investment law gave mostly incentives for exporting companies or companies in less developed areas. The new law adds incentives based on employability and value added.” According to the IMF, these plans will give the Tunisian economy a boost and its GDP may grow to 4.3% in 2021. Ambassador Ghariani points out that Tunisia has a lot to offer: “Tunisia is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with the EU for agricultural goods. I was member of the team which negotiated the current Free Trade Agreement for industrial goods with the EU. We create a win-win situation in Tunisia. We offer companies a good production location, while they create jobs and transfer know-how. For this reason, large companies like Airbus and Benetton produce in Tunisia.”

Mr. Chouari adds: “Tunisia is strategically located close to Europe, and offers as a regional hub access to the African market, especially French speaking Africa.” Already eighty Dutch companies are active in Tunisia along with hundreds of Italian and German companies and thousands of French companies, but both gentlemen hope that the new laws and incentives will attract more foreign companies.

In November a large international conference was held to promote Tunisia’s new economic agenda. The event was attended by more than sixty countries which pledged fourteen billion dollar to support Tunisia. The Netherlands showed its solidarity with a visit of prime-minister Mark Rutte to Tunisia. Ambassador Ghariani: “It was an historical visit and we are happy that we are on the radar in the Netherlands.” However, the Ambassador doesn’t understand why the Dutch travel advice for Tunisia is still ‘only essential travel’: “Why does the Netherlands consider Tunisia more dangerous for its people than France, Belgium or the USA? If there is a country that knows Tunisia, it is France. If the Netherlands wants to help Tunisia, it should let its tourists come.” Mr. Chouari: “It is the role of the FIPA to provide information on the investment opportunities in Tunisia to Dutch companies. The Netherlands and Tunisia are natural trading partners and Tunisia offers a lot of opportunities in important sectors, like the mechanical, electric and electronic industries and IT.” In order to enhance the visibility of Tunisia in the Netherlands Fenedex and FIPA Tunisia organize a special Tunisia seminar on April 21^st in Zoetermeer. Mr. Chouari: “We expect around 100 participants, including three Tunisian officers from different sectors. The event will help create new partnerships and offers network opportunities for Dutch companies.” ————- For more information on this event, visit the Fenedex website or send an email to info@assarwa.nl

Mr Nissana Thaveepanit, Minister Counsellor for Commerce, Royal Thai Embassy and his family. By Roy Lie A Tjam. Having had the pleasure of meeting with the Minister Counsellor for Commerce at the Royal Thai Embassy in The Hague, Mr Nissana Thaveepanit, on several occasions, Diplomat Magazine Editor Roy Lie-A-Tjam took the opportunity to find out more about what diplomats do with their leisure time when serving abroad. A diplomat’s job As head of the Thai Trade Centre, the Minister Counsellor has a close relationship with his team. Together they oversee Thailand’s trade interests in the Netherlands and are responsible for promoting Thai products in the Benelux region. The Office of Commercial Affairs does this by organizing several large- and small-scale interactive presentations throughout the year. These events are organized all over the Netherlands, and provide opportunities for the Minister Counsellor and his team to meet (local) business people and better understand Dutch consumers. Living in the Netherlands Nissana and his family have been in the Netherlands over a year now. Nissana particularly enjoys the tranquillity of his newly acquired town of The Hague and proximity to the beach. Among the first things he and his family noticed was the open-minded and friendly attitude of the Dutch people. Leisure activities Besides promoting Thai commerce, Nissana makes time for leisure. One of the many perks of the Netherlands is that museums are child-friendly, and Nissana enjoys visiting them with his wife and two children, who are 3 and 7 years respectively. Another activity Nissana enjoys is visiting local Thai restaurants. Authentic Thai food reminds him of home, and sometimes he is able to combine cuisine with work by taking delegations to Thai select restaurants. Diplomatic hobbies Many diplomats try to maintain some of their old habits when posted abroad, finding a club to practice a sport they love or a seeking a place frequented by kindred spirits. Nissana appreciates football but also loves cycling, reading, photography, and golf. You can’t beat the Dutch when it comes to cycling, he adds, joking that they always overtake foreigners no matter how hard they peddle. As for reading, Nissana focuses on (mostly local) political-economic subjects and history. The Minister Counsellor needs to keep a close track of the economic developments in the Netherlands, as well as in the EU more broadly. Room for improvement Nissana notes that one of the issues faced by diplomats and other expats is that there is no proper English daily newspaper in the Benelux region. The FD (Financieel Dagblad) used to carry an English business section some years ago, but no longer. He adds that there is also ample room for improvement in the professional and personal interaction between diplomats from different parts of the world; regular interaction among young diplomats in particular is often along regional lines. Doing business with the Dutch The Minister Counsellor of Commerce perceives doing business with the Dutch as pleasant and straightforward. The Dutch are trustworthy people, somewhat direct but always agreeable. Thailand and the Netherlands have been trading partners for over three centuries. Moreover, many Dutch nationals visit Thailand and vice-versa annually. This facilitates mutual understanding ease of doing of business.    

By Tomislav Jakić. When more than a month ago Donald John Trump took over as President of the USA, there were – not many though – reasonable, cold analysts who, basing on his pre-election statements, predicted that a man who is going to wage war against the establishment (the empire) is entering a conflict with a very uncertain result. Some of them even did not hesitate to say that Trump is bound to lose this battle. Judging by what is happening now, those who spoke about a war with uncertain result were completely right and those who predicted Trump’s defeat might be right. We will see in a not very distant future. Trump’s throne – if one can say so – was seriously shaken the moment when one of his closest associates, national security advisor general Michael Flynn, was forced to resign. And, let us not be misguided, not because he was “insincere” with vice-president Pence, but because he dared to contact, how horrific, the ambassador of Russia before the elections and – allegedly – spoke with him about the possibility of abandoning sanctions against his country. And when, immediately after that, White House spokesman said that Russia is expected to return the Crimea peninsula to Ukraine, there was no doubt whatsoever if Trump will be able to fulfill what he promised in the election campaign. With those promises, the key ones, he managed – despite his lack of political experience, despite his sexism and despite his entertainment past – to arouse the hopes of all those in the world who were fed up with the American policy of interventionism and with imposing of what has been “sold” for decades as democracy, with massive help of an enormous army and more that 700 military bases around the world. Just to remind you: Trump explicitly promised that America will stop with imposing regimes, or as he put it in his inaugural address – the American way of life. And, very important, he expressed his willingness to normalize the relations with Russia, which were deteriorating rapidly and dangerously. General Flynn backed such a policy. And that is the reason why he had to go. His resignation is the first serious blow delivered by the system (establishment) against the new man in the White House. After getting rid of Flynn, influential circles not only in the Democratic party (including the Clinton clan), but in the Republican party too (which never really got to terms first with his nomination as presidential candidate and after that with him as the President), as well as those who are often described as the invisible centres of influence, directing the politicians as actors on the stage, they all “smelled blood”. And this is not a conspiracy theory, this is something quite obvious to everybody who is willing to see, to hear and to draw the only possible conclusions from what he (or she) saw or heard, without becoming the victim or the hostage of anybody’s propaganda, regardless whose. Do not be mistaken: those who smelled blood will not stop. And who is, after all, this general Michael Flynn? He is former chief of the US military intelligence, most decorated high ranking American officer on this position in the last two decades. From this position he was relieved when he dared to put into question the way the US intelligence community worked and its results (the very same intelligence community which spies for years now whomever it wants, around the globe, including heads of states, American allies; this is, by the way a proven fact!). Did he speak with the Russian ambassador prior to the elections? Yes, he did. Did he, by doing so, violate an old act (Logan act) which forbids, to put it in the most simple terms, private persons to engage in diplomatic activities? Again: yes, he did. But, did anybody invoke this same act when some 8 or 9 years ago a certain Barack Obama, at that time just a presidential candidate (a private person too) travelled around the world meeting heads of states and governments? The answer is: no! Had Flynn have spoken with ambassadors of, let us say, Germany or France, nobody would have said a word. But he sinned, because he spoke with the Russian ambassador and Russia is, as everybody “knows”, an enemy of the West, an enemy of democracy, a power which is on the verge of sending its armed forces to conquer Europe (if one would believe the main-stream media, or for that matter, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg). On the tracks of the anti-Russian hysteria, which becomes more and more present for almost a year, Flynn was accused, without any evidence, that for him “Putin comes first and only than the US”. Demands are being made, imperatively, to investigate all links between the general and Russia. And all this only to be able to repeat the “old song” from the US election campaign: Russia’s role in the US presidential elections should be investigated (although this role was never proved by solid evidence, or what the Americans call “the smoking gun”, it was only talked about). And all of this to repeat that Trump is a puppet in Russian hands, backed now with the “expertise” of more than 30 “shrinks” who have concluded, on the basis of Trump’s behavior and his statements that he is not fit to be the President of the US. And again: the story will not stop here. The empire (establishment) strikes back and hits a man who thought, because he practically alone, against all odds, won the presidential elections, that he can change the system. It is more than likely that he cannot. The war hero, CIC of the Normandy invasion and later US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was clever (or wise) enough to mention the military-industrial complex and its dangerous role only at the end of his term in office. Trump who cannot be compared with legendary Ike in any way, did practically the same thing in the first days of his mandate, challenging this system. And sealed, thus, his destiny – as it seems now. He will be, with the “logistic help” of the Europeans who are already describing him as somebody able to launch in the next two years “a cultural revolution” (allusion to communist China and Mao Ce Tung) either be chased out of the White House (under any pretext), or he will be forced to become a tool in the hands of others. After all, one should remember Obama and his big promises with which he won the Peace Nobel price (hand stretched to the Muslim countries, a world without nuclear weapons etc.) He did nothing of that sort, but continued the policy of his predecessors, becoming “famous” because of his bombings of a number of countries and destabilizing the Middle East, not to mention the direct and indirect support to those who are today known as Islamist (djihadist) terrorists. In short: he allowed to be “eaten” by the system. And this is the least that could happen to Trump. Why did this “deconstruction” of Trump begun with general Flynn? The answer is simple. Because the general backed the normalization of the relations with Russia, even more he backed the cooperation with Russia in the fight against global terrorism, which means stopping any support and help for the Islamists, who are still called by many in the West “opposition”, “armed opposition”, or “fighters against tyranny and for freedom”. The military-industrial complex lives from wars and it imposed on the West the confrontation with Russia, the policy of enlarging and strengthening of the NATO (which, being a genuine relict of the cold war, was called by Trump “obsolete”), the policy which resulted in bringing to Europe hundreds of American tanks and thousands of troops. To put it quite simply: without the confrontation with Russia, without the continuation of the policy of imposing regimes and taking control over energy sources and main energy routes, there is no money, there is no profit. This is the reason why those who evaluated the fall of socialism in Europe as their final victory, only to see how Putin is putting into question this victory (namely standing up against a unipolar world), after absorbing the shock of Trump’s victory and his announced foreign policy, decided to take things into their hands again. Thus we may expect strengthening of anti-Russian sentiments (allegations of Russian meddling into elections, never proven though, are being repeated again and again, now prior to the presidential elections in France). We may expect a changed rhetoric both from President Trump and from the White house. And we should stop hoping for the end of the renewed cold war. This war means profit and those who are making this profit are not prepared to let anybody else to take it from them, or to stop them making it at all; despite the fact that it is a bloody profit, “earned” at the cost to hundreds of thousands of human lives. General Michale Flynn made this experience. President Trump, this is what can be concluded now, has still to learn the lesson. And the “rest of the world”? Well, those who survive, will tell the story.

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About the author: Tomislav Jakić, born 1943. in Zagreb, is a Croatian journalist – TV and press – specialized in covering foreign policy. He served as foreign policy advisor to the second President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic.        

By Duke Michael of Mecklenburg. The Tulips Ball is not far away. On March 31st the ball commences its third edition with more than 15 nationalities and over 140 guests. This year the Tulips Ball Committee hopes to also serve the Diplomatic Community in the Kingdom of the Netherlands showcasing a traditional Dutch ball having a young twist programme for an international audience.

The agenda includes the Nederlands Studenten Orkest and the Dutch Student Orchestra. Mahler and the violin concert of Takemitsu will be followed by a waltz by Strauss. “A ball as such is a new experience for us, for which we are very excited”, says Clemens van Steijn, the ball organizer. Duke Michel of Mecklenburg is grateful that the orchestra, composed of 13 musicians, will accompany the Grand Tulips Ball on Saturday 1st of April to ennoble the Dutch weekend with guests coming from Europe and overseas. Jonkheer Thomas Stoop L.L.M. says “the ball also provides opportunities for all participants!”

Another talent is the New York Opera Soprano Lauren Andree. She has announced to join again this year the Tulips Ball Committee, offering a touch of opera to it.  Lauren Andree, an ambassador of the Tulips Baal, has recently performed  for a benefit concert to benefit the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem, which is under the patronage of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Order of Malta to the United Nations in New York City. Having started her career at the Michigan Opera Theatre in her childhood, she commenced her professional opera career in 2014. With Mozart and Puccini as her favourite pieces of opera, Ms Andree has performed in Italy, Mexico and of course the United States of America. As she will perform also on the Grand Tulips Ball at the stunning Koepelkerk in Amsterdam, the acoustic of the halls together with her voice will surely trickle a special moment during the weekend.

Her Royal Highness Princess Christine of Prussia has shared with the Ball Committee her sympathy for balls as the Tulips Ball. “I am looking forward to visit the Netherlands, to take part in the guided tours and the sightseeing. Beautiful music, beautiful dresses and friendly people, a lovely city. I hope, that the charity project, which helps children in need in the Netherlands, will be greatly supported.”  “I am happy to be associated with the Tulips Ball, and look forward to meeting all of the fine guests who will be attending this year’s edition” says Senator Professor Dr Jan Anthonie Bruijn (VVD), Once again, Diplomat Magazine, which some of its founders are professional classical musicians and career diplomats, will be the main diplomatic media supporting  the Tulips Ball 2017.  For additional please visit: http://tulipsball.com/    

“Schmelztiegel Wien” – this is a term usually used in the socio-cultural studies to describe the capital of a vast Habsbourg empire, today’s seat of the Republic of Austria, Vienna. Inspired by the past and present meanings of its colours shapes rhythms and ambient, trying to capture a glimpse of everlasting cultural fusions, walking a grace of tradition and charm of modernity in one leap, ethnomusicologist and designer Sofi B., with her collection‚ Unique K by Sofi B.‘ for the Vienna Fabric & Design, is illustrating this jewel of central Europe – historical city of Vienna. Each and every item in this collection is exclusively designed, handmade tailered and unique. Many pieces are of the fabrics which are not produced anymore. The Unique K. items are purchasable exclusively and only in the Vienna Fabrics and Design premises (Schwarzenbergplatz 10, A-1010 Wien) or at the sporadic fashion show reviews. For additional information: http://www.vienna-fabrics.at/news/unique-k/ Photography by Anna Lechner.