Tunisia: Hillary Clinton and Senator Lindsey Graham Agree On Increasing 'Transition Support' to Country
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that the Government of the United States is increasing transitional aid for the Tunisian government and is actively engaging other countries to do the same.
On Thursday, in a Senate Appropriations Committee testimony, Secretary Clinton answered in the affirmative when asked by Senator Lindsey Graham if she "[supported] reprogramming money to help Tunisia get through their budget shortfall for the next two years."
Senator Graham was one of the five senators who recently visited Tunisia and met with President Moncef Marzouki, Prime Minister Hammadi Jebali, and other Tunisian government officials.
US non-military foreign aid has seen a dramatic rise since the Tunisian revolution and represents a significant break from the old US policy of mostly assisting Tunisia with foreign military financing during the regime of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
According to the US State Department's Bureau for Near East Affairs, the US government has allocated nearly $190 million in total assistance to Tunisia, which well exceeds previous estimates given last year. Much of this aid was reprogrammed after it had been appropriated to other areas within the State Department budget.
During Ben Ali's rule, US bilateral aid was largely concentrated on military and counterterrorism assistance. However, after the Tunisian revolution the State Department has created new assistance programs aimed to shore up the country's media, civil society, political environment, and electoral process as well as initiating community development projects and political reforms in the marginalized interior and southeast.
The US government will additionally effectuate a Sovereign Loan Guarantee to buy up international bonds that the Tunisian government issues. The funds that the current government raises through this scheme are important to propping up an insolvent treasury and acquiring the wherewithal to undertake economic reforms.
The Middle East Partnersh! ip Initi ative (MEPI), whose regional office is located in the capital Tunis, has seen its purview over "transitional support" to Tunisia increase. Throughout the Ben Ali years, it conducted only limited bilateral programs. Ben Ali's Tunisia was not a conducive environment for non-military aid due to the regime's corruption and crackdown on beneficiaries of such assistance. MEPI has now spent more than $23 million in "transitional support" for the non-military goals of the US government's assistance to Tunisia.
Senator Graham also briefly asked Secretary Clinton about her support for a putative Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Tunisia. Current trade between the two countries has been relatively low with yearly Tunisian exports to the US reaching $326 million as of 2010. Tunisia is a beneficiary of the World Trade Organization's Generalized System of Preferences Program, thus certain Tunisian exports enjoy duty-free entry to the US.
Despite the positive rhetoric in diplomatic circles for a US-Tunisia FTA, talks have only started last year and FTAs usually take several years to materialize, if they ever do so - given the fact that they have to be ratified by a US Congress that supports free trade in principle but usually looks out for the best interests of local constituencies.
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