MPs on Saturday denounced the absence of the Prime Minister and some ministers from the morning session dedicated to examining the draft state budget, the draft economic balance and the draft finance law for 2024. They called for the promotion of economic diplomacy and the identification of new prospects in this field. MP Masoud Grira of the Sovereign National Line bloc criticised the absence of some ministers from Friday's session and the absence of the Prime Minister from Saturday's session without prior notice. For his part, Aymen Ben Salah (Independent National Bloc) said that the Prime Minister should take part in the debates on the draft budget, as the interaction of the deputies is based on the statement he had presented on Friday. For MP Ahmed Saidani (National Sovereign Line), the Prime Minister did not mention the political, economic and social sectors in his statement, regretting that "the only figure he presented was incorrect and disappointing." For his part, Yassine Mami (Independent Natio nal Bloc) considered that the vacancies in 3 ministries and 6 governorates were likely to hamper the implementation of projects and called on the Prime Minister to speed up the proposal to the President of the Republic to fill these posts. On the other hand, Naceur Chennoufi (Voice of the Republic Bloc) considered that the Prime Minister's statement had described the reality and the difficulties encountered and had presented detailed legislative and legal concepts. For his part, MP Chokri Belbahri (independent) said that "the examination of the first draft budget not based on foreign financing is an achievement for Tunisia to focus on national resources and not to give up national sovereignty." However, he criticised the similarity of the draft budget to those of previous years, pointing to the lack of new approaches to solving problems. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse