TUNIS — Tunisia on Feb 18 signed a four-year implementation plan with China to promote cultural cooperation in areas such as cinema and cultural digitalization.

"Tunisia will work in cooperation with China to organize the first Chinese-Tunisian film festival," said Tunisian Culture Minister Hayet Guermazi during the signing ceremony of the Tunisia-China Cultural Cooperation Protocol 2021-2024 Executive Program.

Guermazi said there are several other projects planned in partnership with China, including theatric art, archeology and translation.

"Culture is the foundation of any tie, whether it is political, social, economic or even strategic," the minister told the ceremony, with the attendance of the Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia, Zhang Jianguo.

The protocol "will help us, together, to promote Tunisian-Chinese cooperation in the cultural field to generalize to other sectors," she noted.

For his part, Zhang said that both China and Tunisia have a long history and brilliant civilizations, and the record of friendly bilateral exchanges could date back to the ancient Carthage in the Phoenician period.

The Chinese ambassador noted that despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the past year has seen both sides participate in each other's cultural events, including those on the Chinese New Year celebration, book publication, cinematic art, and theatre.

He believed that the new program would safeguard the cultural cooperation between China and Tunisia in the near future.