site.btaLabour Minister Kalfin Confers with Tunisian Prime Minister

Labour Minister Kalfin Confers with Tunisian Prime Minister

Tunis/Sofia, October 3 (BTA) - Bulgaria and Tunisia have appropriate instruments to develop good bilateral cooperation in the interest of their citizens, Bulgaria Deputy Prime Minister and Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivailo Kalfin said at his meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid, the Labour Ministry said in a press release Saturday.

Kalfin is on a working visit to Tunisia between September 30 and October 3.

Kalfin and his host discussed the opportunities for developing the bilateral cooperation, as well as the specific topics about exchanging experience and good practices, agreed earlier between Kalfin and the Tunisian ministers of social affairs and of vocational training and employment.

"The meetings showed that we could work on many new and interesting topics. These are related to education, vocational training, the opportunities to develop thorough cooperation in the sphere of social dialogue, the opportunities to attract more Tunisian students for education in the Bulgarian education system or requalification in our vocational training system," Kalfin commented, quoted by his ministry.

In his talks with Habib Essid, the Bulgarian Deputy PM also expressed readiness for broad cooperation within the relations between the EU and Tunisia.

"It is very important that in Tunisia there is desire and hunger for Bulgarian experts. At my meetings with the Prime Minister, the Parliament Speaker, and the ministers of social affairs and of employment, desire was expressed to renew the traditional presence of Bulgarian experts in the spheres of education and medicine. Also expressed was desire to develop long-term projects, including within the European initiatives," Kalfin commented after the meeting with the Tunisian PM.

On Friday, Kalfin conferred with Tunisian Minister of Vocational Training and Employment Zied Ladhari. The host said that the unemployment in Tunisia is at relatively good levels and the trend is positive. In his words, this is why his country is interested in and open to drawing good practices from Bulgaria that could help Tunisia overcome the uneasy economic situation, which the country is going through in the process of democracy, the Labour Ministry said in a press release.

At the meeting, Kalfin acquainted his Tunisian counterpart with the various measures that Bulgaria is introducing so as to overcome the problems with unemployment, putting an emphasis on the differentiated approach to each group of unemployed: young people, long-term unemployed, unemployed aged over 55, and people with disabilities.

Kalfin proposed the establishment of a bilateral expert group for exchange of experience and good practices. He invited Zied Ladhari to visit Sofia.