Tunis — Tunis-Afrique-Presse (TAP) news agency and the National Archives of Tunisia, Thursday, signed an agreement to save the national photographic archives.

Under the agreement, the National Archives provide technical assistance to TAP in management of documents and archives, digitisation of photographs and organisation of training sessions for staff members and executives in charge of management of photographic archives and data base.

The National Archives institution is also committed to digitise all the photographic archives of the news agency.

TAP retains the right of digital archiving and original documents. Digital copies saved and lodged in the National Archives could be consulted only at the seat of the Institution.

Any researcher seeking to obtain a copy of the archived photos subject of the current agreement should contact TAP news agency.

The agreement also provides for the creation of a joint commission representing the two sides and composed of four members to determine the process of transfer and digitisation, in accordance with an implementation and monitoring programme.

The agreement was signed by Director General of the National Archives Hedi Jallab and Chairman and Executive Officer of TAP Mohamed Taieb Youssefi.

TAP photo service has over one million 500 thousand photos, some of which go back to the pre-independence period.