Nazeh Ben Ammar
President, Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC)
Radwan A. Masmoudi
President, CSID
Laith Kubba
Senior Director for MENA, NED
Moderated by
Abdulwahab Alkebsi
Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East, CIPE
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) co-hosted a discussion about current events in Tunisia. Nazeh Ben Ammar, President of the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC) and members of the TACC delegation, Radwan A. Masmoudi, founder and president of CSID, who recently returned from a one-month trip to Tunisia, and Laith Kubba, senior director for the Middle East and North Africa at the NED spoke at the event. Panelists discussed developments in the country and the prospects for democratic and market-oriented economic reforms. Abdulwahab Alkebsi, CIPE regional director for Africa and the Middle East, will moderate the discussion.
About the Sponsors
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) strengthens democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. CIPE is one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy. Since 1983, CIPE has worked with business leaders, policymakers, and journalists to build the civic institutions vital to a democratic society. CIPE key program areas include anti-corruption, advocacy, business associations, corporate governance, democratic governance, access to information, the informal sector and property rights, and women and youth. Please feel free to contact us at forum@cipe.org
The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) is a non-profit organization, based in Washington DC, dedicated to studying Islamic and democratic political thought and merging them into a modern Islamic democratic discourse. The organization was founded in March 1999 by a diverse group of academicians, professionals, and activists – both Muslim and non-Muslim- from around the USA who agree on the need for the study of and dissemination of reliable information on this complex topic.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 1,000 grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who are working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries. Since its founding in 1983, the Endowment has remained on the leading edge of democratic struggles everywhere, while evolving into a multifaceted institution that is a hub of activity, resources and intellectual exchange for activists, practitioners and scholars of democracy the world over. http://www.ned.org/about
The Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC) is a non-governmental organization created in 1989. It is a founding member of the MENA Amcham Council, which groups the chambers of commerce in the Middle East and North Africa. TACC’s overall mission is to encourage connections between businessmen/businesswomen and companies in Tunisia and in the United States of America, to develop, in particular, economic and commercial exchanges between the two countries. TACC also carries out relevant economic activities such as leading business delegations to US fairs, organizing lobbying missions to Washington D.C. to meet with the US Executive and Legislative Branches and assisting in the program of US business delegations visiting Tunisia. Though TACC does not have the status of an AmCham, it enjoys the same privileges and benefits granted to AmChams as it meets the criterion stipulated by the US Chamber of Commerce, such as having an equal number of representatives of Tunisian and US companies, meaning a 50/50 parity, on its Board of Directors. http://www.tacc.org.tn/site/publish/content/default.asp?Lang=en
