Tunisia’s Underdevelopment Problem |
Strategically located on the Mediterranean coast, with access to resource-rich Africa and the Middle East as well as Europe, Tunisia has long attracted foreign attention. The development of the country’s transport infrastructure—including ports, roads, highways, and bridges—is also critical to growth through trade, given its small, diverse economy. Despite these features, its ports remain severely underdeveloped—a missed opportunity not only for Tunisia but for superpowers like China and the United States looking to expand their influence.
Tunisia is home to seven commercial ports. This spring, the World Bank described Tunisia’s port infrastructure as “insufficient” to handle the levels of container shipping and the sizes of ships that dominate international trade. According to the Bank, Tunisia has “ample opportunity” to develop its ports and tap into the rapidly growing containerized shipping traffic in the Mediterranean.
The United States recognized this opportunity nearly a decade ago, when the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) identified Tunisia as a partner for investments in projects such as port infrastructure improvements. The agreement jointly developed by the MCC and the government of Tunisia specifically targeted the country’s largest port, Radès. However, on July 25, 2021, MCC suspended the agreement due to “democratic governance concerns.”
Washington’s interest in contributing to Tunisia’s port infrastructure development has not entirely disappeared. Nonetheless, in the past few years, US bilateral assistance to Tunisia has been drastically reduced—primarily in connection to the same concerns over governance that led to the suspension of the MCC agreement. Members of Congress continue to call for further cuts.
Meanwhile, according to the French Observatory on the New Silk Road, China is competing with the United States for trade-infrastructure investments, such as at the northern port of Bizerte. Yet, the Tunisian government has not announced major improvement plans for the Bizerte port, instead identifying the eastern site of Infidha for the development of a deepwater........