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I would like to extend to you our deep appreciation and thanks for the position the United States has taken in support of the democratization process that has taken place in Tunisia, in Egypt, and what is attempting to take place in Libya.

Tunisia's responsibility, and especially that of its political and intellectual elites, is enormous. All the protagonists of the nation's social, cultural, economic and political life must work to overcome useless and counterproductive polarisation, and to find solutions to domestic, regional and international problems.

Tunisia is small - just ten million, no great natural resources.

Tunisia will continue to be a source of influence, not through its size but through the ideas and the models that it represents.

Foreign aid is not something the vast majority of Americans support, but definitely not conservatives.

I dream of a free, democratic, peaceful Tunisia, a country that can protect its developing identity.

I hope that with the success of the transition to democracy in Tunisia that we will export to Egypt a working democratic model.

Literacy in Tunisia is almost 100%. It's amazing - no country in the region or even in Asia can match Tunisia in education.

I support immediate financial assistance to the newly elected Palestinian president. Now, I don't know what those numbers will be, and I don't know how it's going to be framed.