Obama: "Tunisia has been an inspiration to all of us"

"I would like to pay a tribute to Tunisia, the first North African and Arab country to have achieved this extraordinary transformation which we call the Arab Spring," U.S. President Barack Obama stated on Friday, when receiving Caretaker Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, in the White House. This movement which had started in the country's interior regions "to protest against a government which irresponsible and not responsive to the people's needs, sparked a movement which spread to all regions," the American President pointed out. "Tunisia has been an inspiration to all of us," Mr. Obama estimated, asserting everyone's right to respect, democracy and to free and democratic elections. Commending "the progresses recorded in Tunisia in such a short period," the U.S. President reckoned that this transformation had been achieved thanks to the efforts of the Tunisian Government's leadership that succeeded to make of it a totally orderly process. This process, he said, would lead to free and democratic elections of a National Constituent Assembly (NCA), that would work out a new Constitution. As Tunisia is the first country to have lived through the Arab Spring and the first country to organise free, just and democratic elections, "it is only right and appropriate to invite Tunisian officials to the White House," he specified. The discussions described as "excellent" by the American President, turned on the opportunities offered to Tunisia and the challenges it is faced with and on the bilateral co-operation possibilities. "We have notably emphasised the importance of an economic transformation that goes with the political one," Mr. Obama asserted. For the United States, the stakes, he said, are very important, hence the need to guarantee the success of trade and investment opportunities in Tunisia. Other projects are scheduled, he added, to help Tunisia. They are a set of support programmes in business, investment and employment fields. The meeting between Messers. Obama and Caid Essebsi was also an occasion to discuss the various transformations recorded in the region. "I expressed to Mr. Caid Essebsi my deep admiration for the Tunisian people's extraordinary hospitality offered to the Libyan refugees," the American President said. Speaking about the long-standing relations binding the two countries, Mr. Obama assured that "the American people will express their solidarity with the Tunisian people by all means possible in this transition period." For his part, Beji Caid Essebsi who was on an official visit in Washington on October 3-7, pointed out that he had conveyed to the American President "a message of the Tunisian Revolution and Tunisian people, a message of recognition for the support he has constantly provided to the process of change in Tunisia." The Prime Minister added that "President Obama has been the first leader to welcome the January 14th change and has kept supporting this change in Tunisia." "A support that I wish will be irreversible, Mr. Obama was the first leader to have understood the importance of the change that had taken place in Tunisia and its importance for the entire region," Mr. Caid Essebsi pointed out. "Up to now the Arab Spring is really the Tunisian Spring, so what I do wish is that this Arab Spring will not limit itself to Tunisia and spread to other regions, and that of course depends on the success of Tunisia's Revolution and democratic process," he explained. The long-standing and privileged relations binding the two countries would be further strengthened and Tunisia would always be a credible partner of the United States, Mr. Caid Essebsi asserted.