This study utilised the World Inequality Database (WID), created in January 2011 by the Piketty research teams, for its data. It used the database on inequalities in Africa that was created for the first time in October 2019 by the WID research teams. These data allowed us to analyse the structure of inequalities as well as extreme inequalities in the five North African countries, namely; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. We also attempted to analyse these inequalities with regard to the efforts made to reduce them, particularly through the redistributive effects of the fiscal and social policies of these countries. In order to do so, we relied on the latest work of the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) of Harvard University. Finally, we sought to analyse the specificities of each inequality reduction model in North Africa.

This paper draws attention to the IP rights in Tunisia as a TRIPS signatory. It will discuss the provisions included in the proposed DCFTA’s IP chapter and their potential impact on access to medicine in Tunisia.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly being promoted as the solution to the shortfall in financing needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With ever greater frequency, PPPs are being used to deliver economic infrastructure, such as railways, roads, airports and ports, as well as key services such as health, education, water and electricity in both the global north and the global south.

Tunisia is facing the intensification of water cuts since 2016. While they started off generally occurring in the summer and limited to certain regions, these cuts have now spread throughout the year. They also currently take place across the entire territory, whether the regions have mobilizable water resources or not, as shown by the latest inventory of the Tunisian Water Observatory.1 The average frequency of drinking water interruption is now more than once week.2 These water cuts have become important triggers for social movements: in the summer of 2018, more than 180 protests took place on the basis of the drinking or irrigation water access. In the first half of 2019, water was also one of the major demands of social movements,3 with one difference: 2019 may be the year the water code is finalized.

• The budget deficit is no longer the largest contributor to the increase in public debt since 2016.
• From 2018 onwards, interest on debt contributes more to the increase in public debt than the budget deficit
• The devaluation of the dinar since 2016 is the main contributor to the increase in public debt.

• Between 1995 and 2005, the EU accounted for 75% of our external trade.
• Since 2005, the EU’s share has steadily declined to 62% in 2018.
• Tunisia has managed to diversify its imports but not its exports for reasons related to the capital structure of Tunisian companies.

Until 2000, the Maghreb countries imported their capital goods from Western countries, with France in the lead.
• Since the 2000s, China has been making a breakthrough in the Maghreb.
• As of 2010, China is the leading supplier of capital goods in the Maghreb, replacing France.

Since the official beginning of negotiations forthe Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Tunisia and the European Union (EU) in October 2015, the asymmetry that exists between Tunisia’s and the EU’s negotiating levers has become increasingly striking and questions the very worth of the negotiations from Tunisia’s point of view. Known as the DCFTA, this agreement is part of the New European Neighborhood Policy (NENP) and is an addition to the Association Agreement (AA) between Tunisia and the EU, in order to extend trade liberalization to align with European standards and legislation. In other words, the “Comprehensive” and “Deep” dimensions of this agreement will require Tunisia to undertake profound and irreversible changes in its national public policies.

The maritime service sector in Tunisia could be a catalyst to economic development and to globalization, given that 98% of commercial trade is conducted through sea. However, this sector has been struggling with several issues mainly concerning the lack in logistics development, the poor infrastructure and the shortage in investment opportunities.