Tunisia Renews its Appreciation for ESCWA and Reaffirms its Determination to Ensure the Success of the Debt-for-Climate Action and Development Swap Initiative
As part of Tunisia's participation in the High-Level Week of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr. Mohamed Ali Nafti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad, met with Ms. Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), on September 25, 2025. This meeting is part of Tunisia's willingness to strengthen its partnership with UN and regional organizations and to support joint efforts to transform financial challenges into real opportunities for achieving inclusive development. The Minister praised the role played by this UN body in supporting regional efforts to find innovative solutions to financial and development challenges, particularly through the Debt-for-Climate Swap Initiative in favor of development goals. In this regard, the Minister expressed Tunisia's appreciation for the technical and institutional support provided by ESCWA to accompany the country in the accession process to this Initiative, highlighting the progress made, recently crowned by the adoption of a set of strategic projects that can be financed under this innovative mechanism and in line with national priorities in the areas of renewable energy, water resources, coastal and forest protection, as well as the promotion of development programs in the most vulnerable areas. For her part, the Executive Secretary of ESCWA expressed her satisfaction with the progress made by Tunisia in this process, reiterating the Executive Secretariat's willingness to continue providing support and accompaniment to ensure the success of this Initiative and make it a pioneering model in the Arab region, while pursuing the necessary consultations with the concerned countries to launch the implementation of the mentioned projects as soon as possible.
