Chinese Government provides RMB 200 million grant — via February 2018 ETCA — for the Tunisian Diplomatic Academy Construction Project

Project narrative

On December 22, 2016, the Chinese Government and the Government of Tunisia signed an agreement regarding a feasibility study for the Tunisian Diplomatic Academy Construction Project. Then, on February 6, 2018, the Chinese Government and Government of Tunisia signed an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA), which officially committed RMB 200 million in grant funding from the Chinese Government for the Tunisian Diplomatic Academy Construction Project. On June 20, 2018, the Prime Minister of Tunisia Youssef Chahed ratified exchange of letters for the project (via Decree n° 2018-571). The purpose of the project is to construct a diplomatic academy building for Tunisia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will train Tunisian diplomats, as well diplomats from the rest of Africa. The building is designed to cover 12,000 square meters. It will include computer and audio classrooms, academic lecture halls, books and multimedia reading rooms, and administrative offices. The facility also contains foreign language learning centres for Tunisian diplomats and offers Arabic courses to foreign diplomats such as Chinese, sub-Saharan Africans and Westerners. The grant proceeds from the ETCA were also to be used to furnish the building with office equipment, furniture, and multimedia digital teaching equipment. The building (project site) is geographically adjacent to the University Campus of El Manar in the city of Tunis. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (中國土木工程集團有限公司) is the contractor responsible for implementation. Chinese Government representatives met with a project inspection team on August 3, 2018. Then, on August 23, 2018, the Government of Tunisia and the Chinese Government signed a project implementation agreement. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 3, 2019 and President of Tunisia Beji Caid Essebsi attended. It was originally expected that the academy would be completed by the end of 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused several delays in project implementation because it prevented the arrival of personnel and materials. However, implementation continued with a mask mandate, increased sanitation, temperature checks, and limits on travel (so thorough that most Chinese workers were unable to leave the construction site's camp for over 10 months). On October 30, 2020, the final cement pouring at the construction site took place and the building’s roof was installed. The project was ultimately completed in December 2021. An official project handover ceremony took place on April 28, 2022. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Othman Jerandi, Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Qian Keming, and China's Ambassador to Tunisia Zhang Jianguo attended the handover ceremony. Upon completion, the building was named after former President Essebsi, who passed away sometime after the groundbreaking ceremony. On November 24th, 2023, it was announced that the academy will be inaugurated in early 2024, after which it will begin official activities.