Italian president: Tunisia on right track

Italian president Giorgio Napolitano said during a speech addressed to the National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia (NCA) that Tunisia was a "model" for Arab Spring countries and must strengthen its democratic institutions to achieve stability. "The international community and the European Union will follow up the efforts of the members of the constituent assembly concerning the country’s economic and social problems," he said. The president added: "Italy will continue to support and give the necessary assistance to Tunisia. The joint declaration of establishing a partnership between Tunisia and Rome, which was signed Wednesday, will elevate the dialogue between the two countries to the highest levels." "Tunisia is moving in the right direction, thanks to its distinctive geography and its well-qualified human resources. This country is able to achieve economic development, although it still faces great difficulties...but it can become a model for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries freed from totalitarian regimes. Tunisia has demonstrated the potential to achieve the aspirations of people of the Arab Spring, through reforms and transition from dictatorship to a civil state," said Napolitano. The president said at the end of his visit to Tunisia, which started on Wednesday: “Weapons and armies cannot suppress the yearning for freedom which began in the south of the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia. The voice of the people should be heard." He told MPs: "You are the builders of the nascent state and you determine the legal framework for the next period.” The Italian president said "the pillars of reform were based on work, non-discrimination, gender equality, independence of the state as well as the protection of minorities, freedoms and values, while at the same time respecting the historical roots and heritage of the country". The speaker of the NCA, Mustapha Ben Jaafar, called on the Italian president to urge the EU to support his country's efforts to get ranked as an excellent economic partner. With regard to the illegal immigration issue, Ben Jaafar said "security solutions could not cope with the aspirations of Tunisian people to build the future."