The north African country Tunisia is similar to Wyoming industry-wise, with oil, mining, agriculture and tourism topping the list. Since last year, the University of Wyoming (UW) has entered into formal relations with at least four universities in Tunisia for research and language programs.
Bill Bazzi is the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia. He came to Wyoming this month to check up on the program, and stopped by Wyoming Public Media’s studios to share what he saw with Kamila Kudelska.
Editor’s Note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Bill Bazzi: I see a lot of similarities between Tunisia and Wyoming. I think that's one of the reasons why there's a great partnership with the state of Wyoming and Tunisia. They're big into mining, agriculture, [and] education. This is huge in Tunisia, and I know since I've been here at the university, I've seen a lot of great things.
The relationship is going great between Tunisia and Wyoming. Even the universities that I visit, I just visited one recently in Sfax, who also has a partnership with the University of Wyoming, and they just love when your faculty come to visit. It leaves a great impression that we're engaged with them.
Kamila Kudelska: That was a university in Tunisia?
BB: Correct. It's in Sfax, in the southern part of Tunisia.
KK: What type of mining happens in Tunisia?
BB: Right now, they're very big in phosphate.
KK: The university partnership, when it started [in 2024], said it would address water scarcity, sustainability and productive use of land, and conservation and tourism. Are you aware if the partnership has addressed these issues at all, if students have studied any of these areas and worked together to address it?
BB: I have not really seen anything right now on the actual study, but I know they're in dire need of the study. Especially last year. We had the highest drought, with energy being cut off, lack of energy power, and also water shortage. This is something we really need, and this is something the U.S. Embassy wants to do, is to do more, and this is why we're here.
I want to talk to a lot of the faculty here. It's like a threefold [partnership] with the state: the governor's office, the military [national guard], which we have a great relationship with, and obviously the university. So we need to bring all together and just start seeing what we can do for a better partnership and to try to attract more businesses, like for renewable energy in Tunisia, or to see what we can do with water scarcity. Maybe building water retention from storm water. There's just a lot of things that we can work on, and this is something that I want to push for.
KK: The Wyoming-Tunisia relationship grew last year with the university partnerships. What's something you think Wyoming can learn from Tunisia?
BB: I think both will learn from each other. One of the things when we have Tunisian students that are actually in the University of Wyoming – I've talked to some of the students – they're just amazed at some of the things that they learn here. When they go home, they just basically talk about some of the things that they learn. It's always good to do both, to learn some of the things, and you can apply it there, or learn certain things in Tunisia and bring it here and apply it here. There's just so much.
One of the things in Tunisia, they're the one of the smartest in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math]. Engineering also, they're great in engineering and health. This is great for them to come here. They have great ideas, especially when you have somebody from different parts of the world.
Tunisia is, I think, a land of opportunity. There's just so many things that we can do together, the state of Wyoming, and especially now with President Trump, wants to increase commercial diplomacy and wants to make sure that for every dollar that's being spent by the United States, it's yielding a good investment for the American taxpayers.
This is a good time right now that we're actually pushing for that and attracting more commercial [U.S. businesses] in Tunisia. Right now, we're concentrating more on some of the things like, say, the University of Wyoming. If they have ideas, we can try to commercialize those as well in Tunisia. This is something our embassy is open to, new roads for the university to explore more in Tunisia and to commercialize or do a lot of startup businesses.
KK: One last question. How do you think this relationship is helping Wyoming and the United States?
BB: One of the things that I was mentioning earlier with commercial [businesses], we're trying to increase more commercial, and the faculty that came to visit us, they were talking about different technology, different things that we can do over there in Tunisia. We're hoping as a U.S. Embassy to make sure that we can flourish, to do a lot of startups, try to see what it can do for the university with more commercial ideas, especially with doing a lot of startups here at the university and with some of the Tunisian students that come learn here to see what ideas they have.
We've hosted some at my residence in Tunis, and I've heard a lot of great ideas, but it always stops right there. Nobody goes further to see what we can do. Some of them talk about the next phase of, say, 3D printing, firefighting, forest fires, and even 3D prosthetics. There's a lot of things that these Tunisians [are] talking about, but it's just lack of funding or lack of seedings to have somebody to come in and help them with the next process, the next phase, how to take these things to market – the business section or business aspect of it. I know that you guys [UW] have a great curriculum here with business and we can see if we can do more.
With security, it's very critical for us in that region because a lot of shipping goes through the Mediterranean, and security stability over there is very important for us, and just so that we can safeguard a lot of shipping.
