Highlights

Upon request from the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment and with the aim of providing a systematic analysis to understand how the Government of Tunisia could improve its policies and capacities to better seize the opportunities of international employment in different types of destination markets, the World Bank prepared the policy report, “Strengthening the Tunisian System for International Employment: Exploring Relevant Actions at the National, Bilateral, and Regional Levels.” On the basis of the diagnostic conducted and the recommendations formulated in this report, the purpose of this seminar was to engage discussions with Tunisian public stakeholders and Tunisia’s European partners on concrete actions to build proactivity and competitiveness in the Tunisian labor migration system. These discussions allowed participants to: (i) share the critical review of the existing institutions, regulations and policies related to international labor migration at the national, bilateral and regional levels; (ii) identify concrete actions to implement collectively with the different public partners involved in order to increase employment opportunities abroad for Tunisian workers; (iii) engage a dialogue with private agencies for international recruitment towards a regulatory framework and public-private partnerships that would be both more efficient and able to protect workers from abuse; (iv) review in practical terms how best to leverage existing arrangements and pilot projects at the bilateral level with important destinations such as France, Germany and Canada; (v) identify the role of the World Bank at CMI in the implementation phase to come. This workshop was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and convened several ministries and public agencies dealing with international migration issues in Tunisia, as well as the relevant French institutions (Pole Emploi, French Office for Immigration and Integration), the GIZ and the EU delegation in Tunis.