TUNIS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The European Union should better understand the new demands of the economic situation in Tunisia, said Mohamed Ennaceur, President of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, on Tuesday.

At the end of the third session of the Tunisian-European Parliamentary Committee at the Parliament headquarters, Ennaceur said Tunisia and the EU should be able to overcome the difficulties that tainted their relations following the introduction of Tunisia on two blacklists relating to tax havens and countries with deficiencies in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

"The strategic priorities of the partnership between Tunisia and the European Union are to be redefined," said the president of the Tunisian parliament.

He called on the European delegation to encourage European countries to open their markets for Tunisian products and to implement a Youth Partnership Strategy.

According to official statistics of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Tunisia, the EU holds 72.9 percent of total exports. Tunisian exports to the continent increased by 17.7 percent during the first eight months of this year.

In terms of imports, trade in goods with the European Union (53.8 percent of total imports) increased by 20.6 percent.