Three half-day workshops were held in Tunis on 8 and 9 December 2016, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries (MAHRP) in collaboration with the ENPARD South Support Programme team. These workshops followed several meetings aimed at identifying three priority themes to be addressed in the framework of this program:

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• The impact of the ALECA on Tunisian agriculture ;

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• The evaluation of the cereals import system ;

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• The review of the agricultural subsidy system.

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In the coming months, each of these themes will be the subject of a collaborative study involving experts and stakeholders with the objective of analysing the current situation, identifying the issues and prospects and proposing operational recommendations to the Tunisian decision-makers to assist them in formulating new political guidelines.

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These first workshops allowed the various present stakeholders to become familiar with this upcoming work, to discuss the methodology, so far as it is expected that everyone will be actively involved in the reflection, and to draw the guidelines of the studies.

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On the latter point, it was decided:

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• For the work on the ALECA, to focus the study on the potential impact of the agreement on the agricultural sectors, choosing a "sensitive" area (milk, meat or cereal sector) and a sector which would benefit from such an agreement (e.g. the citrus sector);

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• Concerning the grain import system, three aspects will be more specifically addressed by the study: the cereal collection system to clarify its current functioning, its weakness and the conditions for its improvement; The import mechanisms to see how it would be possible to reduce the import bill, which would include the possibility of exploring the hypothesis of further liberalization of this sector; The consumption patterns of cereals and wheat particularly to move towards less wastage and greater dietary diversity.

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• Finally, on the analysis of the agricultural subsidy system, to focus on direct and indirect support to production, market regulation tools and consumption aids, in order to identify its advantages and limits, evaluate its effectiveness and present sustainable alternatives.

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In the upcoming weeks, a meeting will be organised with the focal point of the ENPARD South Support Programme in Tunisia to discuss the terms of reference of the studies mentioned above and to exchange around the selected experts.