Oral history interview with Noureddine Zekri, 2015

Biographical Note

Noureddine Zekri was appointed Secretary of State for Development and International Cooperation in the technocratic government in 2014. In 2013, he was appointed chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Investment Network ANIMA. From 2005 to 2011, he was director general of the Ministry of Development and International Cooperation. From 1980 to 2005, he was deputy Director of Tax Incentive Management and Head of Promotion for the Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation. From 1978 to 1980, he was an executive in the Tunisian National Tourist Office

Scope and Contents

Noureddine Zekri describes how government units operated under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, stating that many were quite independent of Ben Ali himself. After the Tunisian Revolution, Zekri headed the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, which attempted to resuscitate declining rates of foreign investment, local investment, and tourism. He enumerates the crucial actors in Tunisia's transition, who were supported in their efforts by former president Habib Bourguiba's policies and investments. He describes Tunisia's business environment since the 1980s, with an imbalance in investment across regions and lack of opportunity. Zekri discusses the link between informal trade and terrorism, especially with respect to weapons and drugs. He emphasizes economic challenges in the transition, including finance reform, negotiating trade deals and visa programs with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the European Union (EU), improving conditions for foreign businesses, and re-orienting towards African markets. Foremost, he thinks Tunisia must signal a newfound stability to potential investors, but continued terrorist threats are an obstacle. Zekri narrates his recruitment to Mehdi Jomaa's cabinet, and his prior working relationship with Jomaa during his tenures at the Ministry of Industry and Hutchison

Subjects

• Arab Spring, 2010-
• Bin ʻAlī, Zayn al-ʻĀbidīn
• Interviews
• Jomaa, Mehdi
• Oral histories
• Reich, Adam, interviewer.
• Terrorism--Tunisia
• Tunisia--Economic conditions
• Tunisia--History--Demonstrations, 2010-
• Tunisia--Officials and employees--Interviews
• Tunisia--Politics and government--1987-2011.
• Tunisia--Politics and government--2011-
• Zekri, Noureddine--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2015