Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation meets with Mauritanian community in Tunisia

A delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad held a meeting yesterday evening in the capital Tunis with the community residing in the Republic of Tunisia. The meeting was part of a series of consultations and contacts with Mauritanian communities around the world launched by the ministry in recent months in preparation for the Mauritanian Communities Forum, which the ministry is organising.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to Tunisia, His Excellency Mr. Sidi Ali Ould Sidi Ali, welcomed the members of the mission who had travelled to Tunisia to meet with the community in person, listen to them and convey their demands and concerns to the relevant authorities.

He emphasised that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ dispatch of a high-level mission from the sector to discuss the community’s various concerns and preoccupations is confirmation of the attention given to communities by His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, who has consistently instructed the foreign sector to take all measures to ensure the security and protection of the interests of Mauritanian citizens abroad.

He noted the importance of the community residing in Tunisia for its expertise in various fields, emphasising that the initiative to organise the first forum for Mauritanian communities comes in the context of embodying the care for the community and the keenness to involve it in all issues of concern to it.

This is in addition to other steps that reflect the desire to place our community in the best possible circumstances, such as the amendment of the nationality law to allow them to retain their nationality and enable them to vote to choose their representatives in parliament, as well as the restructuring of the foreign affairs sector to include Mauritanians abroad.

The head of the ministry’s mission, Ambassador Tchacha Sidi Abdullah, expressed her gratitude to the members of the community for attending the meeting. She also emphasises that the ministry delegation had come on this mission as part of the implementation of the directives of His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the need to listen closely to the communities, involve them in the preparations for the forum and address all the issues raised by them, in accordance with the directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.

For his part, the Ambassador and Director General for Mauritanians Abroad, Mr. Mohamed Maouloud Ould Mohamed Salem, gave a detailed presentation on the planned community forum, explaining its objectives, topics, participants, organisational methodology and expected outcomes.

He emphasised that the participatory approach adopted by the Ministry in the preparations aims to involve the communities in the process and make them active participants rather than mere recipients. This is why the Ministry took the initiative to organise the current visits, which have so far included Mauritanian communities in sixteen countries on four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe and America) to meet directly with these communities, listen to them closely and take on board their suggestions and recommendations regarding the forum, which reflects the status and importance of the communities at the heart of the government’s concerns and programmes.

He highlighted the ministry’s efforts to keep pace with communities abroad and the consular services provided to them, confirming that work is underway to launch a digital platform for consular services for Mauritanians abroad, which will speed up the service and bring it closer to users without the need for them to travel. In addition, another platform for communities aims to connect them with their homeland and publicise their activities and projects.

After the presentations, the floor was opened for discussion among the meeting participants, including representatives of the community, students and trainees in the Republic of Tunisia, who responded to the presentations and proposals by putting forward a number of demands and suggestions addressing many of the concerns raised by the community. They praised the Ministry’s initiative to launch an extensive consultation with the communities to involve them in the preparation process for the forum, requesting that the forum focus its themes and discussions on the most important and relevant topics for the communities.

The delegation included the Director of Consular Affairs, Ambassador Abdel Rahman Ould Dada, and the Director of Emergency, Cultural and Social Affairs, Ambassador Toutou Bint Ragad.