The major developments in key persons and organisations in Tunisia throughout the lifetime of the ESIS II project have been a government reshuffle after the re-election of President Zine El Abidine. Mr Ahmed Friaa, the Minister of Communications has been very active in developing the communications and information infrastructure in Tunisia and also promoting the development of information society by setting up a National Commission on Distance Education. Following the Bill on E-commerce a new organization was formed the Agence Tunisienne de Certification which is responsible for electronic certification related to electronic commerce. A number of public centers of Internet access called PUBLINET have been set up in the regions of Tunisia.

After the presidential elections held on October 24, 1999, the re-elected President of the Tunisian Republic Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali decided a major government reshuffle in mid-November. It included the naming of a new Prime Minister and several new ministers. The new ministers and the ministries responsible for IS development in Tunisia can be found in the database.

The Ministry of Communications regulates the telecommunications sector in Tunisia, Mr. Ahmed Friaa is the Minister of Communications and Mr. Noureddine Boudriga is Advisor to the Minister of communications. Mr Ahmed Friaa, has set up at the end of 1999, a National Commission on Distance Education (Internet and Education), where studies, models, financial evaluations and the collection of course contents are undertaken. There are a number of organizations offering their expertise in fulfilling the objectives of this National Commission. Some of these companies are ISETCOM, ATI, IRSIT, CERT, SUPCOM, ONP, and ONT (Tunisie Telecom).

An important step in the organization and structuring of research in Tunisia was accomplished in 1991 with the creation for the first time of the Secretariat of State for Scientific Research and Technology (SERST). The Secretariat plays a central role in the management of the national science and technology programs. It collaborates with other ministries in the formulation of national science and technology policies and plans. The mission of the Secretariat of State is to promote the development of research and technology. It is also responsible for the coordination and evaluation of national research activities. The Secretariat of the State for Scientific Research and Technology (SERST) with the technical assistance of the Institute of Scientific Research in Informatics and Telecommunications (IRSIT), have installed the National Network of Research and Technology (RNRT) which permitted a better planning and coordination of research activities. Within this national network, twenty-two centers have been interconnected having Internet access. SERST plays the central role in this initiative. The SERST Director was Mr. Rifaat Chaabouni who was also the coordinator of EC Projects for the Tunisian government. During the second quarter of 2000 Mr. Racheed Boussemma replaced Mr. Chaabouni as head of SERST and as EUMEDIS focal point for Tunisia. Mr. Chaabouni is now a professor at the Ecole Nationale des Ingenieurs de Tunis (ENIT).

The area of electronic commerce is rapidly growing in Tunisia. For this purpose a national commission for electronic trade, the CNCE, was created in 1997. This commission has set up six projects of legal texts to reorganize e-commerce in Tunisia. These projects are related to different aspects such as: legal protection of data banks, review of the fiscal journal, the legal protection and recognition of electronic signatures. The Project Manager is Mr. Lamia Chaffai Sghaier.

Following the Bill on E-commerce which was passed by the government in August of this year, a new organization for electronic certification was formed: Agence Tunisienne de Certification. The Agence is a financially independent non-administrative public organization based out of Tunis. It scope is related to electronic transactions and electronic commerce. The government licensed the Agence for the provision of electronic certification, as well as determining the criteria for the creation and validation of electronic signatures. The Agence has the authority to enter into mutually recognized agreements with third parties nationally and internationally. The Agence is also responsible for the publication and maintenance of electronic certification to public bodies that conduct electronic transactions. Additionally, the organization participates in research activities related to electronic commerce. The General Director of Agence Tunisienne de Certification is Mr. Noureddine Boudrigua.

The PTO and sole supplier of basic telecommunications services is the National Telecommunications Office (ONT), also called Tunisie Telecom where the General Director is Mr. Ahmed Mahjoub. The importance of the telecommunications network for socio-economic development is recognized by the government. It has charged the PTO with developing an advanced and pervasive network and also given it a wide range of public responsibilities, such as to contribute to the development of scientific research in the area of telecommunications. Tunisie Telecom has been expanding the telecommunications network in the rural eastern half of the country and has been upgrading existing switches and exchanges.

ONT has the responsibility:

• to install, develop, maintain, exploit public networks of telecommunications and in particular the networks of telephone, telex, and data transmission,
• to promote new services of telecommunications through the installation of the equipment necessary, and to adapt them to the technological development of the telecom sector
• to contribute to the development of the studies and scientific research related to the telecommunications sector and its related technical fields
• to take part in the national effort of higher education in all levels of the telecommunications sector and its related technical fields
• to apply conventions and the treaties of the International Union of Telecommunications and the international and regional organizations specialized in the telecom sector.

There is one public ISP in Tunisia:

There are two private ISPs providing private sector and personal access:

• Planet Tunisie (www.planet.tn), directed by Mrs. Cyrine Mabrouk
• 3S Global Net (www.gnet.tn), directed by Mr. Chakroun.

These ISPs provide Internet access by telephone lines (RTC), analogue and digital leased lines, X-25 lines and lines RNIS.

The Tunisian government has taken special measures in order to promote the use of Internet in the country. The subscription fees have been reduced by 30% in March 1999, while special fees for family use have been established.

Moreover, a broad project concerning the creation of public centers of Internet access has been launched from October 1998 is already operational and is still continuing. These centers are called PUBLINET (Centres publics des telecommunications de type Internet), are created in less favored region of the country and aim also at the creation of new jobs for young entrepreneurs. The services offered are Internet access and e-mail, at more competitive prices than the ISPs. Every PUBLINET is linked to the Internet network via one of the seven POP of the national backbone by a 64kbps leased line. The public centers that offer access to the Net, contributing to the IS penetration to the Tunisian society, is an entity worth mentioning. These centers are the result of a project still under development. A list of the PUBLINETs which started operation during the ESIS project can be found in the database.

The National Center of Informatics (CNI) and the Superior Institute of Documentation, (ISD) are two establishments that play an important role for the development of Information Society in Tunisia. CNI was created in 1975 as a National Center referring to the Prime Minister. It is responsible for: advising National Departments on Information Technologies, developing software projects on demand of the National Departments, central and local administrations, and public enterprises. Although it is mainly dedicated to administrative data processing, this facility is also available to public administrations and enterprises, providing hardware and software maintenance service to National Departments and other public users and training the personnel of National Departments and other public authorities. The National Departments and the central administration rely almost exclusively on CNI for support and expertise in information technology and computing. Mr. Mongi Miled is the General Director for CNI, the Director for Cooperation is Mrs. Rakia Baccouche and the Administrative Director is Mrs. Ben Mustapha. The Head for ISD is Mrs. Henda Ben Ghezala.

Institute of Scientific Research in Informatics and Telecommunications (IRSIT) was set up in 1987 and performs R&D in three major areas:

(a) Telecommunications and Networks (Interconnection of networks, Telematics, Multimedia, Space Technology)
(b) Decision Support Systems (GIS and resource management decision support systems, Decision Support for industry)
(c) Arabisation and Man-Machine Communication (automatic translation of documents, natural language translation, word synthesis)

IRSIT (www.irsit.rnrt.tn) is also the national focal point for the regional arab network RAITNET assisted by the Center of Arab League. IRSIT's key persons are: Mr. Salah Ben Abdallah (President and General Director), Mr. Hatem Mallouche (International Cooperations), Mr. Nejib Abida (IT Project Manager) and Mr. Mourad Zouari (RNRT Project Manager). RNRT is a national network for research and technology.

ENSI (Ecole Nationale des Sciences de l' Informatique) was created in 1984 by the University of Tunis II having as mission to provide undergraduate and graduate instruction in Computer Engineering. The new ENSI Director is Mr. Ben Youssef who succeeded Mr. Farouk Kammoun.

The Centre d’ Etudes et de Recherche en Telecommunications (CERT) was created in 1998 having as mission to proceed to technical studies concerning acceptance testing of telecommunications material and equipment. It is directed by Mr. Ali Godhani.

Additional educational and research networks that operate in Tunisia are:

• CCK (Centre de Calcul Khawarizmi) providing connection to universities. CCK manages the national university network (RNU) which connects 87 departments. Leased lines connect 21 of these.
• INBMI (Institut National de Bureautique et de Microinformatique) providing connection to institutions supervised by the Ministry of Education. INBMI manages the network EDUNET which connects 337 secondary schools and 50 colleges. The Head of INBMI is Mr. Adel Gaaloul
• CIMSP (Centre Informatique du Ministere de la Sante Publique) providing connection to institutions supervised by the Ministry of Health. CIMS manages the national health network (RNS) which connects 64 hospitals, including all university hospitals. The General Director of CIMSP is Mr. Abdelmajid Miled.
• IRESA (Institut de la Recherche et de l’ Enseignement Superieur Agricole) providing connection to institutions supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture. IRESA manages the national agriculture network (AGRINET) which connects 14 agricultural educational and research institutes and 7 regional research institutes.
• The Network of Durable Development (RDD) has been installed in the framework of the Program for Durable Development of the United Nations Organization.

The Tunisian Society for Informatics and Engineering (ST2I) is a body that elaborates director schemes and develops software, telematics and audiotext applications. Its head is Mr. Mosbah Kanzari.