Tunisia’s exports to Russia rose 5.7 percent in 2018 to 3.3 million dinars (MD), CEO of the Export Promotion Center (CEPEX) Lassaad Laabidi said on Thursday.
At his meeting in Tunis with a Russian delegation operating in the fields of production of agricultural equipment and phyto-pharmaceutical products and organic fertilizers to improve the soil and organic production for livestock breeding, Laabidi added that new products were exported for the first time to the Russian market in 2018, tomato concentrate (64 thousand dinars), cork (159 thousand dinars), cardboard (123 thousand dinars) and plastics (122 thousand dinars).
Emphasis is now placed on increasing the presence of Tunisian products exported: peppers, fresh salads, shellfish, fresh fish products and pasta, he added.
He said that the volume of Tunisia’s exports to Russia does not exceed 20 million dollars (equivalent to 61 million dinars), while imports to this country amount to 500 million dollars (the equivalent 1.4 billion dinars), highlighting the interest of Tunisia to strengthen its relations with Russia through opening of a shipping line between Tunisia and Russia with an average of two services a month.
Laabidi called on the Russian side, which is making a working visit to Tunisia on April 25 and 26 April 2019, as part of the Tunisian-Russian Joint Commission meeting, led by President of the Russian-Tunisian Business Council Tatiana Sadofieva, to simplify the procedures for entry of Tunisian investors and products into the Russian market and benefit from incentives offered by Tunisia to international partners.
