President of “Honeywell” the giant high-tech equipment company, Dave Cote said, Thursday, that his group is studying “the prospects for its Tunisian subsidiary in the light of events that occurred recently in the country.”
The subsidiary he had established in the country in April 2012 is specialized in the manufacture of protective equipment (glasses, masks). It employs approximately 200 people including engineers.
He said after a meeting with Interim Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali that his visit to Tunisia is part “considering plans to expand projects of the group internationally.”
He added that recent events (the attack on the United States embassy in Tunis) “have raised doubts among U.S. companies about the stability of Tunisia.
Any decision to invest in such a situation must be carefully studied in order to properly assess the risk. ”
According to him, “the capital being overcautious, two possibilities are offered to him in this kind of situation; either to abandon the investment and leave the country permanently or seek a higher return on investment.”
The U.S. official emphasized “the importance that his group attaches to the stability but also to citizens’ confidence in their country’s institutions.”
To attract FDI in this context, the U.S. official called for “increasing the incentives offered to this type of investment.”
