TUNIS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron's recent visit to Tunisia has delivered a double-effect message, Tunisian analysts said.
Macron arrived late Wednesday afternoon in Tunisia's capital for a one-day state visit, his first to an Arab country since his election last May.
During his first state visit to Tunisia, Macron confirmed the launching of an emergency program with a value of 50 million euros (62.5 million U.S. dollars) for Tunisia's small and medium enterprises, as well as an extra envelope of 500 million euros in addition to 1.2 billion euros programmed for the period 2016-2020 to boost Tunisian economy.
Some political party activists as well as independent political analysts believed that Macron's commitment to financial aid to and partnership deals with Tunisia will benefit Tunisia's economy, help create better jobs for young generations and stimulate regional development.
Abdelwahab Hani, a Tunisian politician and human rights activist in the United Nations, argued that "such a visit represents for Tunisia a golden opportunity to resume its leadership in Africa in diplomacy, education, science, security and economy."
However, experts also pointed out that Macron's visit was relatively disappointing because it failed to draw equal relations between the two countries.
According to Hani, Macron's speech to the Tunisian parliament did not address the revision of some unjust agreements previously signed between Tunisia and France, nor did the French president mention compensation for scars engraved in the history of Tunisia.
Nizar Makni, a Tunisian analyst specializing in Tunisia's foreign policy, believed that Macron's state visit to Tunisia shows the renewal of France's expansionism foreign policy, starting with the resuscitation of the Francophonie.
During the visit, Macron said Tunisia will host, in 2020, the next edition of Francophonie Summit. "French and its vitality no longer belongs to France, it is in Africa, the Caribbean, all over the world," said Macron.
"The new expansionism approach under the regime of Macron is in fact based on an old tactic of war that consists of mastering the center of the battle by weakening its surroundings," said Makni. "French foreign policy has changed noticeably in its former colonies."
Until the end of 2017, France remains one of the few countries with which Tunisia's trade balance was in surplus, with a budget of 930 million euros, despite a relative retraction since 2011, mainly in terms of tourist flow.
Tunisia's largest foreign direct investment comes from France, and Tunisia-France trade accounted for 22 percent of Tunisia's trade with other countries, according to Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.
A total 1,403 French companies are installed in Tunisia, representing 41 percent of the overall foreign companies on the Tunisian territory generating more than 136,000 jobs.
