The World Bank Group has allocated $200 million for upgrading the road network of Lebanon. 

The funds will be used to repair around 500 kilometers of roads in a first phase of a $510 million government plan to revamp the country’s road sector.

The funds include a $45 million grant from the Bank-administered Concessional Financing Facility (CFF), which is a facility created in 2016 to support middle-income countries that were recipients of regular Bank financing, but are currently experiencing unusual social and economic duress.

The $155 million will be provided as a loan repayable over 32 years, including a seven-year grace period. The World Bank will also help the government mobilize other international development partners to provide additional funding.

The first phase of the plan aims at rehabilitating the existing road networks, improving the road safety systems, and purchasing equipment for emergency road works. It also aims to improve management and efficiency in the sector. 

The project will include a survey of up to 6,000 kilometers of primary, secondary, and tertiary roads in all regions to identify those in most need for rehabilitation.

The project aims to help the country continue to offer basic services both to its citizens and to Syrian refugees in the country. 

The Syrian refugee presence has put pressure on the infrastructure, and increased the workforce by 35 percent. The road repair works would help provide more low-skilled jobs.

With this new package, the World Bank’s current commitment to Lebanon in grants, loans, and other concessional financing rises to $1.3 billion.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

“The centrality of the Mediterranean region is important both for Italy and for Tunisia. This central position strengthens the ties between our two countries”. This was said by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, after the meeting with the president of the Tunisian Republic, Beji Caid Essebsi, at the Quirinale. The meeting of Wednesday 8 February is the second between the two heads of State: the first one was in Tunisia on 18 May  2015, when President Mattarella visited the country in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack at the Bardo museum.

The talks between Italy and Tunisia included the migration phenomenon and the economic and cultural ties between the two countries. “We have signed six agreements between Tunisia and Italy. Agreements concerning tourism, health, the environment, energy, cultural relations and cooperation. These agreements mark a further step forward in the cooperation between Tunisia and Italy. We intend to proceed with great determination for the growth of our cooperation, for the development, against terrorism, against trafficking in human beings” President Mattarella added.

“Tunisia is for Italy also an important trading partner, as demonstrated by the success of the business forum which was held in May between Tunisian and Italian operators, and after that many Italian operators attended the 2020 Conference in Tunisia last November. We have many common perspectives with Tunisia, and the electric interconnection between Italy and Tunisia is a work that our country considers as a strategic and important achievement for our two countries”, he stressed.

Speaking of migration, the Head of State called for “reaching quickly a new agreement between Tunisia and Italy in terms of migration flows. With Essebsi we talked about the need to govern the phenomenon starting from its causes.”

For President Essebsi “One cannot manage immigration without dealing with development, and terrorism cannot be defeated just with the use of force. We need a comprehensive strategic plan for a future of peace and security”.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Tunisia has allocated $ 15 billion for investments in the energy sector by 2030. European investors, Asians and Americans have expressed their willingness to invest in renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency in Tunisia, according to what is stated the Minister of Energy, Mining and Renewable Energy, Hela Cheikhrouhou.

The Minister added, in a statement to the media on the sidelines of a conference on investment in renewable energy in Tunisia, that the World Bank (WB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (BAD) have expressed their readiness to support Tunisia in the funding of projects related to renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to preserve the environment in Tunisia and in the world. The Minister recalled that the government’s role is to develop the legal and regulatory framework to facilitate the success of projects in the energy sector. The two day conference, at the initiative of the 3S Group, aims to develop a report and a study of the prospects in energy efficiency through new information and communications technology.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

In order to start negotiations for the Albanian access to the European Union it is necessary for the country to implement the reforms required by the EU and to ensure free and fair parliamentary elections in June. This is the opinion of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, which approved by an overwhelming majority (52 yes, 6 no, 4 abstentions) a resolution on Albania’s progress on its path towards the EU.

MEPs have “welcomed” the progress made by the country in initiating the required reforms and called for “further efforts to reform the judiciary, which is a key demand of the Albanian citizens and a key factor in restoring confidence in public institutions ” a statement says. However, the Commission remains “concerned about the selective justice, corruption, the overall length of judicial proceedings and political interference in the investigation” that exist in the country.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Italian Cooperation, together with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched in Tunis the second phase of the project “Promoting youth employment – Mashrou3i “.

It is an investment of $ 14 million that aims at creating more than 6,000 jobs over the next five years in Tunisia. This was announced by the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development of Tunis.

To date, it is specified, the Mashrou3i project has contributed to create more than 1,250 jobs, mainly in the Governorates of Kairouan, Kasserine, Kef and Sidi Bouzid, providing direct support to new entrepreneurs as well as training and technical assistance courses.

Currently, in the southern, central and northern governorates of Tunisia, nearly 40% of young graduates are unable to find a job. The project also aims at strengthening the skills and business awareness of local institutions to support businesses and academic institutions.

Mashrou3i also will take advantage of the HP Life and e-Learning programs of the HP Foundation, a free online platform focused on new technologies of education and communication and on the development of solutions for young Tunisian entrepreneurs.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Government of Montenegro adopted the economic reform program until 2019. It provides an inclusive and sustainable economic development aimed at contributing to fill the gap between the development of the country and the average of European countries, as well as to improve the standard of living of Montenegrin citizens.

For the period 2017-2019, the Government is committed, through this program, to support projects to remove obstacles to the development of the country in the field of infrastructure (highway, rail), energy (connection with Italy, improvement of existing facilities, construction of the thermoelectric plant in Pljevlja), industry (with focus on the processing of the products), agriculture (with a focus on food production in line with European standards), tourism, work environment and shadow economy.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Algerian Central Bank has recently forwarded to local banks a note for the immediate suspension of the operations of the bank loans of imports of citrus fruits and fresh vegetables. The Algerian Minister of Commerce ad interim, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said that this decision is motivated by the need to reduce the value of imports, taking into consideration the availability of local products of equal quality. Despite of the fact that Algeria has 66 million hectares of land and produced 12 million tons of citrus in 2015, the country imported the equivalent of US $ 11 million of citrus fruits from Spain, Morocco and Egypt.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

In 2015 the total non-licensed solar energy production capacity was 248.8 MWe, while in 2016 it reached 819.6 MWe, with a 230% growth.

According to figures released by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, the total energy production in 2015 was 73,146 MWe, while in 2016 it reached 78,497 MWe (with a 7.3% growth).

The current number of power stations (of variable size and energy type) in Turkey amounts to 2,321 units. The difference of production according to energy source between 2015 and 2016 is as follows: The biggest increase was that on solar energy (+230%). Total non-licensed solar energy plants passed from a capacity of 248.8 MWe, to 819.6 MWe. 

Geothermal energy production increased by 31.5%, from 624 MWe to 821 MWe.

Wind power grew by 27.5%, from 4,498.4 MWe in 2015 to 5,738.4 MWe in 2016. Wind power is the third most rapidly growing energy source. Carbon plants capacity increased by 4.5% (9,418 MWe in 2015 and 9,842 MWe in 2016).

Natural gas  and liquid natural gas energy production capacity grew by 4.4% (21,222 MWe in 2015 and 22,156 MWe in 2016). On the other hand, Fossil Fuel Power Plants production (such as naphta) decreased by 17.3%.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

High-level contacts between Israel and European countries on laying a gas pipeline from the Leviathan natural gas reservoir are about to take place in Brussels, the Israeli economic newspaper Globes reports. 

The Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources director general Shaul Meridor will travel to Brussels next Monday to meet his counterparts from Italy, Greece, and Cyprus in the European Commission offices. The meeting is designed to pave the way for a summit between the four countries’ energy ministers next month in Israel.

Such a pipeline, the longest of its type in the world – 2,000 kilometers, could connect the Israeli reservoir Leviathan and the Aphrodite Cypriot reservoir, as well as other other gas reservoirs to Italy, and from there to other customers in Europe.

The Europeans expressed their preference that Edison carry out this ambitious venture. One of the world’s most experienced energy companies, Edison was acquired several years ago by EDF, the French national electric company, and is active in energy exploration in Israel and Egypt. The sources add that Francesco Starace, CEO of Italian electric company Enel Group, recently met with Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Dr. Yuval Steinitz, and expressed interest in buying Israeli gas. The Italians are interested in Israeli gas as a substitute for the gas they are buying from the North Sea area, where gas production is gradually declining.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Slovenian government approved the annual plan for the management of public assets for 2017 presented by the SSH on the basis of the strategy launched in the summer of 2015. The plan includes targets, the measures necessary to achieve the expected returns and the list of the 20 companies for sale. Among these, two new asset (Abanka and Gorenjska Banka) and 18 companies already included in the above mentioned list (some of which are at an advanced stage of privatization, such as the Cimos d.d., KDD d.d. and Paloma d.d.). In 2017, it is expected the continuation of activities aimed at the privatization of NLB, the launch of the sale of Unior d.d., the unbundling of Plinovodi d.o.o. from Geoplin d.o.o. and the sale of additional defined portfolio assets.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews