Juppe Arrives in Tunis

France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe arrived in Tunis on Thursday for a two-day working visit, his second to Tunisia since Jan.14, for high-level talks with the officials concerned here. Juppe is scheduled to hold talks with President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali and Speaker of the National Constituent Assembly Mustapha Ben Jaafar. A statement issued by Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Juppe's visit falls within the framework of consolidating bilateral relations and support the excellent partnership and cooperation between Tunisia and France in various fields. The French FM also meets with his Tunisian counterpart Rafik Abdel-Salam and a number of senior officials in the economic sector, as well as representatives from the civil society and the French community in Tunisia. Earlier Tuesday, Alain Juppe dismissed exaggerated concerns about the strong showing of Islamic parties in elections in a number of Arab countries, particularly Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. Speaking in an interview on "I-Tele" network, today, the Foreign Minister warned that what was happening in Arab countries was "not an Islamist episode but a revolution in the Arab world and even beyond."    "This revolution will not bring about a calm situation very quickly and we must expect to be prepared for a period of transition which will be lengthy," Juppe said. "I have always said that we can’t hope for one thing and the contrary (thing)," Juppe remarked. He also said that there would be a huge need to accompany these countries economically as some Arab economies like Egypt were in a "disastrous situation" and he underlined the importance of financial assistance as set out in last year's G8 Summit in Deauville, France, at that time for Tunisia and Egypt.