President Marzouki Receives Honorary Doctorate From Tsukuba University

President Marzouki Receives Honorary
Doctorate From Tsukuba University

Caretaker President of the Republic Moncef Marzouki received on Monday the honorary Doctorate from the Japanese TsuKuba University.

During his meeting with the Tsukuba University academics and students, Marzouki notably spoke of the difficulties of post-revolutionary stage and the great political, economic and security challenges faced by Tunisia.

Marzouki pointed to the achievements accomplished in this transitional phase including the completion of drafting the Constitution and the pledge to hold the elections by late 2013.

"As a model in the Arab world, Tunisia has no choice but to succeed, " he said before adding that "Tunisia, which is not seeking to export its model, wants to prove the capacity of Arab peoples to succeed and build a democratic state marked by freedom, social justice and economic growth."

"To fight against bureaucracy, indiscipline and corruption, Tunisia needs to further consecrate the values of labour which distinguish the Japanese people rather than material resources and technology," he underlined.

Answering a question, Marzouki explained that the delay in drafting the constitution is due to the will to reach consensus between all stakeholders.

He spoke of the assassination of political opposition leader Chokri Belaid that he considered as a "national disaster" and a "political crime" that pushed the country into violence.

Tunisian students in the Tsukuba University requested clarifications on the conditions of return of the Tunisian skills to the homeland.

More than 3,500 Tunisian skills among researchers and academics are abroad, he explained, voicing wish to recover this human capital to be involved in building the country's future.

In Tunisia's embassy in Tokyo, Marzouki received members of the Tunisian expatriates in Japan. He notably met with Nebil Maghrebi professor at the university for 25 years who told TAP news agency that solutions to political issues of the country are economic ones, stressing the absence of communication channels with the Tunisian expatriates.

Some 750 Tunisians live in Japan. A community mostly made up of senior executives, according to Hichem Essanaa, in charge of consular affairs in the embassy.