“Tounesna”, a space to help the social and economic reintegration of migrants voluntarily returning to Tunisia was inaugurated Tuesday at the headquarters of the Office of Tunisians Abroad (OTE).

The structure that will be operational in 9 governorates (Tunis, Bizerte, Kef, Kairouan, Monastir, Sfax, Gafsa, Tataouine, and Medenine) has the mission of facilitating the implementation of the mechanism of social and economic reintegration of Tunisians returning home, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

At the inauguration ceremony, Minister of Social Affairs, Mohamed Trabelsi, who was accompanied by Ambassador of the European Union in Tunis, Marcus Cornaro and Ambassador of France in Tunis, André Parant, said the structure will allow Tunisians who have chosen to return to their country, to build their capacity ahead of integration into the labor market.

“It will provide assistance to Tunisian returnees to set up their own business, benefit from national programmes of the Office of Tunisians Abroad and the National Agency for Employment and Self-Employment and offer support formulas to facilitate procedures with the administrations and structures concerned, “he said, adding that about 600 applications of people wishing to join this program have been examined so far.

The OTE is working in coordination with the structures concerned in the implementation of this project which is part of a cooperation programme of the European Union through the programme ProGres Migration Tunisia, funded by the Emergency Trust Fund (UTF), with Expertise France and the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII).

The inauguration ceremony took place in the presence of the ambassador of the Netherlands in Tunis, and representatives of the embassies of Switzerland and Austria in Tunis as well as representatives of the National Agency for Employment and Self-Employment and Expertise France and OFII.

Source: TAP News Agency