Tunisian President Kais Syed: “No to the IMF Dictate”

Tunisian President Kais Syed, in a telephone conversation with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that “there is not a single sura in the Koran that would quote or be called the International Monetary Fund.” “We will continue to stand solely and exclusively on the side of God,” Syed emphasized, “and we do not intend to take sides with anyone.”

Tunisian President Kais Syed also told Michel that “the Bretton Woods agreements are not the inevitable fate of humanity.” The Tunisian leader reiterated that his country “will not accept neither the dictate, nor the conditions set forth by the International Monetary Fund, the implementation of which would threaten the social peace and stability of Tunisia.”

Said’s conversation with Michel follows difficult talks on Tunisia-IMF relations, on the migration dossier, and on relations with EU countries, which the President of Tunisia held on June 11 with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, accompanied by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. As to illegal immigration, a particularly sensitive issue for the European Union, Said hoped “once and for all to identify the reasons for the phenomenon rather than the consequences” and also reminded about the Tunisian initiative “to convene an international conference that would bring together all the interested countries of North Africa, the Sahel and Sahara region, and the northern Mediterranean.”

Said invited Michel to start cooperation with Tunisia in the field of renewable energy. In addition, on the same day, during a visit to the city of Gafsa, the capital of the same-name province (369 km from the capital), Said urged to start cooperation with Europe in the phosphate production sector, which is necessary for the country’s economy.