During a two-day working visit to Tunisia, German Federal Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller, announced on Wednesday, October 10, 2018, the signing of new declarations of intent in the framework of the Tunisian-German partnership promoted in recent years in support of the political, democratic and economic transition in the country.
It was during a ceremony organized on the same day, at the German car company “Marquard” that these projects, which are part of the economic cooperation with Tunisia, will begin to take shape.
Through these projects which are part of an amount of €1.7 billion, Germany has indeed wanted to reaffirm its commitment to support the transition in Tunisia.
On the sidelines of a technical visit organized in “Marquard”, an event attended by the German Ambassador in Tunis, officials of the company and journalists, the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation said the signing of the declarations of intent is part of the German commitment to implement projects, contribute to employment and support the transition in Tunisia.
“I wanted to send two messages through this visit to Tunisia: the first is that the German government is developing a partnership with Tunisia for training with Tunisian companies, and the second message is to tell Tunisian youth that Germany is going to really bet on increasing their chances of finding jobs.
“Tunisia is an absolutely excellent site for German investment and investors provided that qualified labor is present and well trained,” he added.
In a statement to AfricanManager, Hatem Ben Ismail, Director of Human Resources at Marquard announced the launch of the Middle Management Academy to train middle managers to strengthen their skills to increase their chances to get a job.
It is a project promoted by Dräxlmaier, Leoni, Marquard and the German government as support for employability in Tunisia.
He added as a partner of this project, Marquard will contribute to this project by recruiting many of these people once the training is completed.
“The project is in a stage of reflection and will mobilize a lot of funds,” said Ben Ismail, adding that this program will be able to see the light during the year 2019.
These are 5 projects, namely a declaration of intent for the “partnership for employment”, aiming at the creation of 7,450 jobs and the training of 260 qualified agents in the automotive sector by 2020.
Long established in Tunisia, the three German suppliers of car wiring, Dräxlmaier, Leoni and Marquardt, currently employ 25,800 employees.
By 2020, these three giants in German industry have pledged to increase employability in Tunisia by creating 7,450 jobs and developing human skills in the automotive sector, including the training of 260 skilled employees.
This declaration of intent will be signed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), represented by HE Dr. Gerd Müller and the three German automotive suppliers.
The second project called “Partnership Solidarity Employment” aims at the professional integration of returnees in Tunisia and people professionally converted by the CORP.
This statement will be signed by several companies and the Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) to commit to offering a quota of jobs to these people within their companies.
In addition to these two partnerships, we have another one between the Thibar Dairy School and the Kempten Dairy School.
This declaration of intent around the exchange of expertise and the establishment of a network to improve the dairy sector in Tunisia aims at its modernization.
Conscious of the fact that the Tunisian dairy sector makes a decisive contribution to the creation of income and employment in rural areas as well as the diversification and stabilization of agricultural production systems in Tunisia, the two signatory parties will begin after the signing of this declaration the dialogue on possible exchange measures with the Teaching, Testing and Specialized Training Center (LVFZ) for the dairy industry in Kempten.
Strengthening of the Tunisian tourism federations is also on the agenda. This is to strengthen the capacity of Tunisian tourism federations and promote a new tourism culture, including ecological tourism and cultural tourism.
In addition, there is also the creation of a business-to-business training center in Bizerte: This declaration of intent will support the textile industry sector through the inter-company training of textile agents in Bizerte.
The German company Van Laack having tested this type of training and being certified by the International Chamber of Commerce in Germany (IHK) will partner with the Tunisian Federation of Textile and Clothing (FTTH) and the Foreign Trade Association of German Retailers to sign this declaration.
