The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the area of e-government with the Ministry for Public Function, Good Governance, and Anti-Corruption at the Government Complex Seoul on May 26.

The signing of the MOU is the result of close cooperation between Korea and Tunisia upon Tunisia’s earnest request. The signing ceremony was held in Seoul on the occasion of Tunisian Minister Kamel Ayadi for Public Function, Good Governance, and Anti-Corruption’s visit to Korea. Proving much interest, El Wataniya 1-Tunisia’s state-owned TV channel-filmed the signing ceremony.

The Korean government has offered official development aids to Tunisia with the total amount of 65 million US dollars from 1987 to 2015. In particular, Tunisia On-line e-Procurement System (TUNEPS) was completed in collaboration with Samsung SDS in 2013, and the TUNEPS made Tunisia one of the Regional Champions in the Open Government Partnership Awards themed on improving public services in 2015. At the moment, the Korea International Cooperation Agency is working with the Tunisian authority to establish an electronic participation system that engages a wider participation of the public and prevents corruption, benchmarking Korea’s e-participation portal.

In the recent UN E-Government Surveys conducted in 2010 and 2014, Tunisia was the top performer in Africa, and the country is so much interested in information technology that it founded the Virtual University of Tunis that spreads long-distance education and integrates ICT into higher education, which is not common in Africa. Tunisia is aiming to modernize their administration and information systems by 2020 with its plan “Digital Tunisia 2020.”

Minister Hong Yun-sik of the Interior commented, “I hope this MOU with Tunisia, one of the leading digital countries in Africa, would serve as a stepping stone to foster cooperation between Korea and African countries.”

It is expected that the signing of MOU with Tunisia will help more and more Korean businesses make inroads into Tunisia as Tunisia adopts Korean e-government models and systems.