Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed three agreements with Tunisia during an official state visit to the North African country on Wednesday.
The agreements are part of a wider European plan to strengthen Tunisia's ability to limit migration to Europe and include a budget support package, a higher education and scientific research deal and a special line of credit for small and medium-sized companies.
Italy will help Tunisia with €105 million ($111.7 million) in state cash and credit lines, Ms Meloni’s office told Reuters, part of Rome’s efforts to boost economic ties with African nations and curb illegal immigration to Europe.
Rome also offered Tunis €50 million in state cash to promote energy efficiency and renewables projects, an official from Ms Meloni’s office said.
Another deal envisages a €55 million credit line to support Tunisian SMEs, the official said.
Ms Meloni’s visit to Tunis is the fourth in less than a year and the first after the announcement of the Mattei plan, in which she promised a €5.5 billion investment package for projects in Africa at a summit in Rome in January.
A critical part of the plan – and a wider EU package – is helping Tunisia control an influx of migrants moving through the country, many from sub-Saharan Africa, as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean.
Thousands die each year attempting to make the journey, often aided by unscrupulous people smugglers, who provide unsafe boats at an extortionate cost.
The UN Migration Agency IOM estimates that at least 2,271 people died trying to cross to Europe through the Mediterranean route last year alone.
Increasingly, many also come from Tunisia and across North Africa, seeking better economic opportunities in Europe.
The Italian PM was joined by a delegation that included Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Deputy Foreign Minister Edmondo Cirielli and Higher Education Minister Anna Maria Bernini.
In her previous visits, Ms Meloni promised rigorous support for Tunisia in the form of investment and financial packages to help alleviate the country’s continuing financial crisis.
She has repeated – on several occasions – her government’s stance regarding the need to stabilise the economic situation in Tunisia to prevent more migrants from attempting to cross the Mediterranean and reach Italy's shores.
Tunisian President Kais Saied also repeatedly said his country would not become a transit destination for sub-Saharan migrants attempting to reach Europe.
“Tunisia, which has always treated migrants humanely, refuses to be a transit or settlement [area] for them,” he said during a meeting with high-ranking officials from the National Security Council on Saturday.
Mr Saied also accused international organisations of failing to put in place promised migration policies and leaving Tunisia to single-handedly deal with the crisis and bear its consequences.
“A comprehensive migration approach must be implemented to counter human trafficking networks and no law-abiding countries would approve the existence of illegal situation [in reference to irregular migrants] on its land,” Mr Saied told Ms Meloni at the Carthage presidential palace on Wednesday.
Ms Meloni reassured the Tunisian president that her country did not intend to let Tunisia become a destination or a permanent residence of migrants.
Italy is willing to provide all the necessary support to help the North African country tackle the situation, she said.
“We know that Tunisia cannot become the country of arrival for migrants and co-operation on this [matter] must be strengthened,” she said on Wednesday.
Tunisian activists protested against the Italian delegation's visit in front of its embassy in Tunis and accused Rome of imposing a right-wing migration agenda in Tunisia.
Tunisian civil rights groups also accused Ms Meloni's government of attempting to establish a number of migrants detention centres, as well as fostering official anti-migrant rhetoric.
In the past year, sub-Saharan African migrants have been the subject of a major clampdown in Tunisia, with hundreds expelled from the North African country.
Some were left stranded in the desert between the borders of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia while others were repatriated to their countries.
Mr Saied claimed in February 2023 that there was “a criminal plan to change the demographic structure” of Tunisia and described the arrival of migrants as a form of “occupation”.
Italian Interior Ministry data shows that more than 153,000 migrants reached Italy last year, compared to 105,140 in 2022 and 67,477 in 2021.
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
