The National Archives of Tunisia is the first institution from the Maghreb countries that proposed the inscription of its archival collection on Privateering and the international relations of the Regency of Tunis in the 18th and 19th centuries to the International Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme. In the 18th and 19th centuries privateering was closely linked to international relations and played an important political role in the Mediterranean region. The proposed collection includes unique memory, such as the detailed lists of European captives, their social and ethnic origins in their home country, biographies of some of them as well as their professional and political careers during their captivity in the Regency.

Participants of the Tunis meeting agreed to organize an event on the history of privateering and the international relations in May 2011. The meeting also provided the opportunity to start an inventory of documentary heritage of Tunisia in a view to create the National Memory of the World Register and to promote documentary heritage of Tunisia worldwide. This would include newspapers and publications from the National Centre of Documentation, the collection of parchments from the National Library, TV programmes on heritage and crafts of the end of the 20th century and radio programmes on celebrities. Participants also underlined needs for training in the area of restoration of manuscripts, digitisation and electronic archiving.