Italy has opened its doors to accept 2,000 Tunisian construction workers following the agreement between the National Association of Building Contractors (Ance), the non-profit training organization Elis, the Tunisian Employment Agency (Aneti), and the Agency for Professional Training (Atfp).
Through a post on X, the EU Embassy in Tunisia announced that, as part of the EU’s “Thamm+” program, the decision focused on providing certified linguistic and technical training to 2,000 Tunisians over three years to place them in Ance member companies, Schengen.News reports.
Through this programme, the European Union (EU), in cooperation with Member States and Tunisia, implements concrete measures to make legal immigration possible within the framework of mutually beneficial cooperation, thus combating irregular immigration.
400 Tunisian Worker Specialized in Building & Public Works Are Expected to Be Hired in Italy This Year
Such a program will be launched this year and run until 2026; through this, the EU, in cooperation with the member states and Tunisia, will implement concrete measures to make legal migration possible within the framework of mutually beneficial cooperation.
According to Chief of Staff of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training Abdelkader Jemali, during a signing ceremony, 400 young Tunisians specialized in building and public works will be hired in 2024, 800 more next year, and as many in 2026.
Italy Granted 12,000 Work Visas to Tunisian Citizens in a Bid to Prevent Labour Shortage
Previously, Schengen News reported that 12,000 Tunisians were allowed to work In Italy for three years to combat labour shortages in the Italian market.
Last year, Italy supported two initiatives for implementing legal mobility projects for work, with overall funding from the European Commission of €10,6 million euros and €1,4 million from Italian funds.
In Egypt, the first initiative was to create the “Italo-Egyptian Employment Center” to train workers in the tourism-hotel sector professionally for employment in Italy.
However, in Tunisia and Morocco, a delegation agreement with the International Organization for Migration for specific initiatives for €8,625,000 was accompanied by co-financing from the Ministry of Interior of €400,000 for activities.
In Tunisia, the initiative proposed initially by Ance and the non-profit organization Elis continues to train 2,000 Tunisian construction workers, while in Morocco, the initiative supported by the Ministry of Labor aims to train 500 workers in the mechatronics sector.
