Tunis, April 30 — Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Mohamed Ali Nafti, held a remote meeting on Thursday with heads of Tunisian diplomatic and consular missions abroad.
The meeting is in line with the President of the Republic's directives and in implementation of the decisions of the small Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister last Saturday, aimed at ensuring the return of Tunisians living abroad during summer 2026 under safe and comfortable conditions.
The meeting brought together senior officials from the Ministries of Justice and Interior, the Directorate General of Customs, the Office of Tunisians Abroad, the Central Bank of Tunisia, Tunisair, and the Tunisian Shipping Company.
According to a ministry statement issued Thursday night, Nafti stressed that ensuring the best conditions for air and maritime transport, as well as improving the quality of consular, administrative, customs, and digital services for Tunisians abroad, requires coordinated efforts among all relevant institutions and close coordination with missions abroad.
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This, he said, would strengthen the state's social role, improve public service efficiency, and simplify administrative procedures to effectively implement the measures adopted by the Cabinet meeting.
He reiterated the need to implement the Cabinet's decisions of April 25, 2026, within an integrated action plan based on strong coordination between diplomatic missions and national institutions.
The minister also highlighted the importance of advancing the digitalisation of consular services, accelerating the completion of the digital consulate portal and expanding remote appointment booking.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 185,000 civil status documents have been issued remotely by 60 Tunisian diplomatic and consular missions, along with around 4,000 online driving licence certificates.
The remote appointment system, currently deployed in 21 missions, has already enabled over 89,000 administrative services.
Discussions also covered enhancing digital services within the Directorate General of Border and Foreigners Police, allowing online passport renewal applications, tax payments and appointment booking.
It was noted that Tunisians abroad can renew their passports while in Tunisia at dedicated "Tunisians Abroad" service points located at the Directorate headquarters, Tunis-Carthage Airport and the port of La Goulette.
The meeting also addressed simplifying procedures for issuing nationality certificates to Tunisians born abroad, enabling them to obtain identity documents more quickly, alongside plans to launch an online platform for this service.
Air and maritime transport for Tunisians abroad was a key focus, with a package of measures including the allocation by Tunisair of a significant number of seats at exceptional discounted fares in both directions, baggage benefits, waiver of booking change or cancellation fees and an extension of the travel period until September 2026. Special year-round offers for students were also announced.
Regarding maritime transport, exceptional discounts by the Tunisian Shipping Company were highlighted for routes from Marseille and Genoa, covering passengers and vehicles in both directions, with preferential rates for low-income groups.
The minister stressed the importance of coordination between the Office of Tunisians Abroad and diplomatic missions to define objective criteria for eligibility for these preferential fares, particularly for low-income families and students.
These criteria will be announced in the coming days through official communication channels.
The meeting also reviewed new digital services aimed at simplifying vehicle procedures for Tunisians abroad, including applications, enabling faster issuance and renewal of driving permits, remote submission of requests, declaration of final return and faster processing of customs exemption requests.
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Efforts are also underway with insurance companies to enable remote vehicle insurance and payment via international bank cards.
On financial transfers, participants highlighted the incentives provided by Tunisia's legal framework for foreign exchange operations, remittances and investment for Tunisians abroad.
It was agreed to intensify efforts through diplomatic missions to promote these advantages.
Finally, the minister called on all institutions to better communicate these incentives and awareness campaigns via social media and official websites of Tunisian diplomatic and consular missions abroad.
The small Cabinet meeting had previously approved a set of measures to facilitate the return of Tunisians living abroad during summer 2026.
