In January 2021 the cities of Tunis and Barcelona started their technical cooperation in the frame of the bilateral convention signed between the two cities. The convention was the result of several exchange meetings organised in the frame of their membership in MedCities.

The technical cooperation targets three main elements: the management of green and public spaces, notably in support of the elaboration of the Green Plan of the city of Tunis; the management of  municipal markets; and the urban resilience of the city of Tunis.

Several meetings were held since then in order to advance in the cooperation. Firstly, a meeting was organised between the team of the Strategic Plan of Tunis, in the frame of A’SIMA Tunis project, MedCities, the Directorate of Global Justice of the Municipality of Barcelona and UN Habitat Resilience Hub, in order to present the Urban Resilience profile and plan and identify how it could fit into the strategic planning of Tunis.

Secondly, a meetign was held between the Directorates of Municipal Markets of both cities. The objective was to present the model of management of municipal markets in Barcelona, understand the current challenges linked to the management of open markets and irregular street selling activities around them and support the city of Tunis in organising and formalising such activities.

Last, there was an exhange of information from the city of Tunis regarding the Green Plan which will be launched in the coming months as well as the current work that the city is doing with regards to agrofood governance. Further exchanges will be organised between the two cities in order to reinforce cooperation in these subjects. MedCities supports the bilateral exchanges of its members, which are beneficial to both members and reinforce the technical and political capacities.