Promoting peace and cooperation throughout the world

Tunisia has played a role in international relations much greater than what the country's geographic and economic size would normally suggest. Tunisia is a member of a number of international and regional organizations including the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity, the Islamic Conference Organization, and the Arab Maghreb Union. It is also active in the Euro-Mediterranean co-operation process. But more than the mere list of memberships, it is the credibility of Tunisia’s message in international fora that gives this small North-African nation the influence it wields in the discussion of world issues.

Historians trace the beginning of Tunisia's foreign policy to the foundation of Carthage. Throughout the centuries, Tunisia has known various influences -- Punic, Roman, Byzantine, Spanish, Turk and Arab -- and the presence of various religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Every time a culture or civilization occupied the land, Tunisia took the best from that civilization. For the last 3000 years, Tunisia has been open on various trends and cultures. For that reason, Tunisians today feel especially equipped to address the challenges of globalization. The same values it has always promoted domestically and internationally govern its policy today. "Our country which has upheld human rights, tolerance, moderation, dialogue, cooperation and solidarity as the constant values of its culture and its policy, reaffirms its unwavering determination to continue applying these principles at home and abroad, " said recently President Ben Ali in a speech to foreign ambassadors.

Among the basic tenets of the country's foreign policy are moderation and tolerance. Tunisia has been a middle-of-the-road and pragmatic nation. Its focus on peace and human development is a strategic orientation with domestic and international implications. It is accordingly in people and not in military hardware that Tunisia chose to invest, and today it is reaping the benefits of that choice.

While consolidating Tunisia’s traditional policy of close relations with the United States and Europe, President Ben Ali has enlarged this scope and aims to increase relations with Arab and Africans. Tunisia continues to be firmly committed to building a unified Maghreb. The Arab Maghreb Union, a regional grouping which includes Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya, is trying today to accelerate its process of integration.

Tunisia believes that as an African nation it has a role to play to restore peace in Africa. Tunisian diplomats emphasize their "sense of common destiny" with Africa. They also stress their belief in the ability of Africa and Africans to offer more than the usual "basket-case stories". By standing out this year as the most competitive nation in Africa in the World Economic Forum’s most recent report, Tunisia tries to set the example itself as an African success story. It also continues to actively contribute to the search for peaceful solutions to Africa’s conflicts. Its participation in UN peacekeeping missions has continued and even became more frequent since its first intervention in the Congo in 1960. Tunisia has sent hundreds of peacekeeping troops to Namibia, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi. More recently, it has taken part in the resolution of the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Tunisia’s pro-peace role has never been more crucial, however, than in the Middle East. The country’s leadership was involved from the very beginning in the Middle East peace process. Tunis served as the headquarters of the Arab League from 1978 to 1992. It also hosted the Palestine Liberation Organization's headquarters starting in 1982, following international mediations to that effect especially from the United States. In 1991, it hosted the first US-Palestinian official talks. President Ben Ali has actively supported the Middle East peace process in all its stages. He is in fact credited with being the first to use the phrase "land for peace", a basic notion he still defends in the search for a just and comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement. Towards this end, there is continued cooperation between Tunisia and the United States. In a recent foreign policy address, President Ben Ali paid "tribute to the United States for the positive role it is assuming in the process with a view to reaching an agreement that would guarantee the rights of all parties."