In a report published on Thursday, July 11, the Tunisian Institute for Competitiveness and Quantitative Studies (ITCEQ) stated that it is essential to strengthen economic diplomacy in order to promote Tunisia’s integration into its continental environment and optimize its accession to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which would enable it to better position itself on the African market.
In this report, entitled “Performance analysis and evaluation of Tunisia’s accession to the AfCFTA: Application of an enhanced gravity model”, the ITCEQ points out that “effective economic diplomacy must be built around networks of the various ministries concerned, as well as the private sector, the central bank, customs and civil society.”
In this respect, the Institute called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop its institutional capacities and mobilize the competent and versatile human resources needed to conduct economic diplomacy, considering it essential to improve the skills of the diplomatic framework.
“Tunisia’s trade relations with its African partners can be strengthened if diplomatic skills are combined with economic tools to promote the political, economic and strategic objectives of its membership of the AfCFTA,” the Institute stresses.
It also stresses the need to support and promote the opportunities offered by the African market by further strengthening the institutional framework for trade and investment facilitation, particularly in the areas of transport, logistics, trade finance and insurance support. The aim is to facilitate Tunisian companies’ access to African markets.
A strategy for positioning on the African continent
According to the ITCEQ, it is also necessary to draw up a participatory national strategy for integration and positioning on the African continent, based on a clear strategic vision shared by all stakeholders.
This strategy must review our achievements and identify our strengths and weaknesses in order to optimize and guide the diversification of products for export to this market.
It must also define the objectives and policies to be implemented in order to take advantage of the benefits and opportunities offered by the AfCFTA, as well as the priorities that will guide the country’s choices and geo-economic policies.
This strategy must also ensure that the national ambition to industrialize the country through trade, and trade through industrialization, is anchored through the involvement of all stakeholders (the State, the private sector (national industrialists), support structures, banks and civil society).
Successful integration into the African context
To successfully integrate into its African environment and the global economy, Tunisia also needs to accelerate the structural transformation of its economy, which, according to the ITCEQ, is closely linked to the development of the manufacturing sector.
However, this will depend on three key conditions: increasing the rate of productive investment, developing manufacturing sectors with growth potential and accelerating the implementation of the national industrial strategy and sectoral pacts.
As a reminder, Tunisia, which joined the “Guided Trade” initiative launched by the Secretariat of the AfCFTA Agreement on October 7, 2022, is one of the first eight African countries (Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius) to prepare for the launch of the AfCFTA, under this initiative.
The AfCFTA agreement entered into force in May 2019. It was ratified by Tunisia on August 7, 2020. It is one of the flagship projects of the African Union (AU), which aims to strengthen South-South cooperation for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa “in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063”.
It also aims to consolidate trade relations between the AU’s 55 member states, in a market of more than 300 million consumers and $3,400 billion in annual trade.
The agreement aims to remove customs barriers to the free movement of goods and services between African countries. According to the Centre de Promotion des Exportations (CEPEX), Africa’s untapped potential is estimated at around $1.2 billion.
The untapped export opportunities account for about 61% in North Africa ($754 million), 22% in West Africa (about $270 million) and 8% in East Africa ($94 million).
