US embassy cable - 05TUNIS839

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000839 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (LAWRENCE), OES/STC(SENSENEY) 
COMMERCE FOR NES/IA/ROSENZWEIG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, KSCA, SENV, TPHY, KMPI, TS 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR,S MEETING WITH THE TUNISIAN MINISTER OF 
TRANSPORTATION TO DISCUSS NOAA/NIM WORKSHOP 
 
REF: USDOC00946 
 
1. Summary:  On April 15, the Ambassador met with Minister of 
Transportation Abderrahim Zouari, with Robert Jubach of the 
National Weather Service (NWS), and with Dr. Moncef Rajhi, 
the Director of the Tunisian National Institute of 
Meteorology (NIM) to brief him on a workshop NWS and NIM had 
jointly conducted for approximately 100 Tunisians on weather 
forecasting. Present were Kamel Ben Miled, MOT Director of 
External Cooperation and Adel Ben Othman of the MFAs 
America,s Desk. Participants discussed the goals of the 
workshop and possibilities for future cooperation between the 
two weather services.  Jubach invited Zouari to visit the NWS 
in the U.S., and Zouari expressed interest in visiting Boeing 
in Seattle.  On a related topic, the Minister told the 
Ambassador that the GOT would like to see more US interest by 
prequalified bidders on the project to upgrade the Monastir 
Airport and build a new facility in Enfidha.  End Summary. 
 
2. A team of five National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) 
officials conducted a workshop on weather forecasting for 
approximately 100 Tunisians April 11-15, in collaboration 
with NIM.  Funding for the workshop was coordinated by the 
Department of State OES in direct support of the Science and 
Technology Agreement signed between the US and Tunisia. 
Prior to the workshop in Tunisia, Rajhi was invited by the 
NWS to attend an international workshop in San Diego. 
 
3. The topics of the workshop were the institutional 
structure of the NIM, their vision for the future, various 
NWS meteorological and hydrological forecasting technologies 
that could be transferred and applied in Tunisia, areas of 
NWS technical assistance, and potential areas for 
collaboration.  The NWS experience in its own modernization 
and in its supporting role in modernizing national 
meteorological/hydrologic services in other countries was 
highlighted in the workshop.  On April 13, the NWS delegation 
and NIM personnel went on a field trip to the northwest 
Tunisia to visit meteorological observation systems at an 
agriculture site and at the Tabarka airport. 
 
4. Zouari thanked the Ambassador for initiating the 
cooperation between the two weather-monitoring groups and 
commented that the strange, unusually cold and rainy weather 
Tunisia had experienced during the past winter had drawn the 
attention of President Ben Ali.  In response to the 
Ambassador,s inquiry as to what the Minister envisions for 
NIMs future, the Minister responded that he would like to see 
a &more supple8 organization with less administration.  He 
also suggested having a U.S. expert come to Tunisia to work 
with the weather service on a temporary basis.  Mr. Jubach 
said he supported this idea and that NOAA had agreements with 
labs in the U.S., which might be able to provide an 
individual.   Rajhi added that the weather service was 
interested in more cooperation and training in the fields of 
weather radar, data communications, climate modeling and 
forecasting, and a coastal monitoring system. 
 
5. The Minister took the opportunity to remind Rajhi of his 
end of April deadline to modernize the way weather was 
presented in the Tunisian media.  Rajhi promised he was 
working closely with the Tunisian media to complete this 
task.  Jubach said the media was the most important partner 
in the visibility and credibility of weather information, and 
they would be discussing this further in the workshop. 
 
6. Jubach and Rajhi said they would like to sign a bilateral 
accord between the two groups to provide the framework for 
future cooperation; Jubach explained that NWS often engaged 
in collaborative programs with their foreign partners.  While 
they are willing to transfer software and knowledge, they 
expect feedback in order to improve their own systems.  He 
invited Zouari to visit NWS offices in Washington and 
elsewhere. 
 
7. The Minister said he welcomed the invitation, and added 
that he was recently invited by Airbus to visit Toulouse and 
would like also like to visit Boeing in Seattle.  On a 
related topic, he told the Ambassador that the GOT is ready 
to select a company to complete a $500M upgrade of the 
Monastir Airport and the construction of a new facility in 
nearby Enfidha.  Pointedly, he inquired to the lack of 
aggressiveness by American bidders.   (More will be reported 
septel on this bid and the US participation.) 
 
8. Comment: Significant floods in the fall of 2003 caught the 
GOT unprepared but have served to focus attention on 
Tunisia,s weather forecasting and management services.  NIM 
has historically used French equipment and expertise, but now 
needs to upgrade neglected systems and equipment.  It views 
the recent successful cooperation with NOAA and NWS as a 
means of decreasing reliance on French technology and taking 
advantage of U.S. expertise.  End Comment. 
HUDSON