Tunisian Prime Minister Receives European Mediterranean Institute Executive Director

Tunis,11 January 2003 (Tapex)

Tunisian Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi received this morning Josep Antoni Duran I Lleida, Executive Director of the European Mediterranean Institute in Barcelona (IEMED) and president of catatonia's democratic union, who is visiting Tunisia.

The meeting, said Mr. I Lleida, was an occasion to discuss ways and means to boost relations of cultural and economic cooperation between Tunisia and Spain in general and catatonia in particular.

Mr. I Lleida who is visiting Tunisia to attend the inauguration of Catalan painter ''Tapies'' exhibition in Tunis, voiced will to develop cooperation in the field of tourism, stressing that half of the 160.000 Spanish tourists who visit Tunisia each year are Catalans.

The vocation of the European Mediterranean Institute is to promote cultural dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.