Tarak Ben Salem was born on May 13, 1960, in Sousse, Tunisia. He is married and has three children. He began his academic career by obtaining a baccalaureate in letters from the high school of Bardo in Khaznadar, Tunisia, in 1979. He then earned a master's degree in public law from Paris 11 University in 1984 and completed his studies at the National School of Administration in Tunisia in 1989.
Throughout his professional career, Tarak Ben Salem has held numerous important positions. In 2019, he was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Tunisia to the Russian Federation and the republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan, residing in Moscow. In 2016, he served as a diplomatic advisor to the Tunisian government. In 2015, he became the Director General of Political and Economic Cooperation with Europe and the European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2011 to 2015, he was the Ambassador of Tunisia to the Republic of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, residing in Bamako.
Previously, in 2007, he was the Director of Euro-Mediterranean Relations and National Coordinator of the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, as well as the National Coordinator for Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean space at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 2002 and 2007, he was the Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Tunisian Embassy in Finland. In 1999, he was appointed Deputy Director of Political and Economic Cooperation with France, Germany, Italy, and Austria at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From 1993 to 1999, he was a counselor at the Tunisian Embassy in the Netherlands, where he was responsible for commercial and economic affairs. He began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990 as a section chief in the Department of the Arab Maghreb, responsible for the Arab Maghreb Union and bilateral relations with Morocco and Mauritania, and as section chief for political and economic cooperation between the countries of the North and Southwest Mediterranean in the framework of the "5+5 Dialogue". Before that, he worked at the Ministry of Finance in the General Directorate of the Budget in 1989 and at the Ministry of the Interior in the General Directorate of Legal Affairs and Studies in 1985.
Tarak Ben Salem speaks Arabic, French, and English and has participated in numerous international summits and forums, including the Russia-Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg in 2023, the Kazan Forum "Russia-Islamic World" in May 2023, the Paris Peace Forum in 2019, the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019, the centenary celebration of the International Labour Organization in Geneva in 2019, the Davos Forum in January 2018, the China-Africa Summit in Beijing in 2018, the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech in 2016, the Davos Forum in January 2016, the signing ceremony of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement between the Malian government and political and military groups in March 2015, and the Euro-Mediterranean Summit in Paris in 2008.
Tarak Ben Salem's career highlights his crucial role in strengthening Tunisia's international and diplomatic relations through his numerous responsible positions and significant contributions at various international forums and summits.
