A little over 20 years ago, the Tunisian military was paired with the Wyoming National Guard as part of the Department of Defense’s National Guard State Partnership program.

“It provides the Wyoming National Guard vital opportunities for using their skills out in the field in real world situations,” said U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia Joey Hood. He said it helps the country “ learn how to take care of everything from natural disaster [to] responding to terrorist threats, and that has helped keep Tunisia stable, more secure and prosperous, which is of a benefit to us.”

Hood said when the military partnership started, education efforts did as well. But recent partnerships between the University of Wyoming and Tunisian universities hope to strengthen the relationship in the coming years and share information in areas like water management.

“Tunisians may be developing new technologies and new techniques in very arid environments that could be useful here and vice versa,” he said.

Hood pointed to sustainable tourism as another partnership.

“Tunisia gets about 10 million tourists every year. Unfortunately, most of them just go to the beach and don't spend a whole lot of money,” Hood said. “So [the] University of Wyoming, I think, can help small and medium enterprises in Tunisia figure out how to create more experiential tourism and more niche markets.”

Hood said he hopes to see Wyoming faculty and students working together with Tunisian counterparts to develop new technologies that can help both regions.

Listen to Open Spaces Friday at 3 p.m. or Sunday at noon for a full conversation with Ambassador Hood.