Amid the current economic crisis, Tunisian exports are struggling to target new markets, being convinced that it is becoming crucial for broadening the range of markets, potential and others, by examining all available means through other gateways to other opportunities.
In this connection, making known Tunis Trade Point (TTP), a centre of making easier trade and services to be offered to the Tunisian enterprises, was the target of an information seminar held, on Wednesday in Tunis, on the theme ” TPP: gate to the world network of trade information”.
Trade Point is a centre where all the interveners of international trade, customs, foreign trade institutions, chambers of commerce, transport companies, banks, and insurance companies are brought together physically or virtually.
In this space dealers could identify markets for their products, have access to strategic trade information and accomplish procedures on the spot faster and at lower cost than in the past while using the latest multimedia techniques.
Mr. Bruno Masier, chairman of the World Trade Pole Federation (WTPF) asserted the support of the federation to TTP reminding that the trade poles programme was launched by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1992, to increase the participation of the small-and medium-sized enterprises in international trade notably in the developing countries.
Indeed, the Trade Point mechanism is not new in Tunisia. Tunis Trade Point pole exists since July 1993 at the premises of Cepex. Its task is not limited to export promotion, but goes beyond to streamline imports by using the latest information and communication technologies, providing small and medium-sized enterprises with firsthand and real-time economic information on foreign markets.
The number of Tunisian operators dealing with TP in unknown, but apparently they are not numerous. This is probably why the Cepex plans to expand these centers throughout the country and to density the network.
A relay was set up in Tunisia as a “Network management and support for export” managed in cooperation with different public administrations, and trade-related services providers connected with the ‘export points “created in partnership with 8 chambers of commerce and industry in Tunisia.
But is it enough to have the profile of a Trade Point as provided for by its originator, Unctad and the relevant organization, the World Trade Points Federation? The question has to be raised knowing that a Trade Point is a center of trade facilitation involving a large range of interveners.
Even if CEPEX labeled this structure that it is hosting as “a high-tech platform with a modern and efficient park, a cyber space and a package of online services”, it is clear that traders are not pressing forward TP , including “the Internet portal set and designed to offer dynamic content and added value added ‘.
