Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (, ) or UTICA is an employers' organization in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

representing industrial,

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

and

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

sectors. On October 9, 2015, the National Dialogue Quartet, comprising UTICA, the

Tunisian General Labour Union The Tunisian General Labour Union (, ''UGTT''. ) is a national trade union center in Tunisia. It has a membership of more than one million and was founded on January 20, 1946. The UGTT is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederatio ...

, the

Tunisian Human Rights League The Tunisian Human Rights League (, , or LTDH) is an association to observe and defend human rights in Tunisia. It was founded in 1976, but associations had to be government-recognized, and the government delayed considerably before giving offici ...

and the

Tunisian Order of Lawyers The Tunisian Order of Lawyers (, ) is a non-profit Tunisian organization and the bar association of the country. All lawyers in Tunisia are members of the Order, which does not belong to any political party. The headquarters of the Order are locat ...

, was announced as the laureate of the

2015 Nobel Peace Prize The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (founded in 2013) for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011". The National ...

"for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011".

Organization

Formed in 1947, UTICA represents nearly 150,000 private companies in Tunisia from all sectors, with the exceptions of

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, banking, and financial sectors. Most of these companies consists of

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

. The confederation has more than 25,000 union officials. Led by special committees, it supports, coordinates and mobilizes its members in regional and professional structures. It constitutes an important player integration and economic development, while supporting the activities and business development both regionally and in national and international markets. The structural organization of UTICA gives it both a sectoral representativeness, through the federations and national trade associations but also geographic proximity, thanks to regional and local unions. 17 sector federations, 24 regional unions, 216 local unions, trade associations and 370 national trade associations and 1700 regional trade union rooms allow the organization to cover all economic sectors of the country.

Presidents

* Mohamed Chamem: January 1947–April 1948 * Mohamed Ben Abdelkader: April 1948–October 1960 * Ferjani Bel Haj Ammar: October 1960–July 1988 * Hédi Djilani: July 1988–January 2011 * Mohamed Ben Sedrine (General Coordinator): January–March 2011 * Hammadi Ben Sedrine: March–May 2011 *

Wided Bouchamaoui Wided Bouchamaoui, also transcribed Ouided Bouchamaoui, (; born 1961) is a Tunisian businesswoman who since 2011 has been leader of the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA). As leader of the organization she took from ...

: May 2011 Hedi Jilani is the stepfather of Belhassen Trabelsi, brother of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, (1987–2011) and Sofiane Ben Ali, nephew of the latter and son of his brother Habib. He resigned in the wake of the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Employers' organizations Organisations based in Tunisia