Twenty Tunisian businessmen and a dozen Indian business managers operating in plastics met on Thursday in Tunis at the initiative of the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) and India’s Embassy in Tunis to identify opportunities for exporting Indian products to the Tunisian market.
Co-operation between India and Tunisia has become essential to create new opportunities, Indian Ambassador in Tunis Prashant Pise said.
The two countries can capitalize on their strengths and technological processes, he added, stressing the need to improve bilateral trade, the volume of which has not changed in the past five years.
President of CONECT International, Monia Essaidi said the point is to start by developing trade between Tunisian and Indian economic operators and to establish Tunisian-Indian industrial units in Tunisia as the country can serve as a platform and a gateway to Africa and Europe.
“India is a country far from Tunisia; yet it is competitive. Tunisian businessmen have a lot to learn from this country, which is developing extraordinarily,” she added.
Taoufik Mokhtar, participant in the meeting, noted the importance of such meetings in promoting partnership and increasing Tunisian exports to India and the whole Asian continent, saying logistics are a constraint for Tunisian importers mainly those interested in importing certain plastic products unavailable in Tunisia.
Exports from Tunisia to India amounted to 201.485 MTD in 2015 against 479.049 MTD for imports, resulting in a trade deficit of 277.564 MTD, according to CEPEX statistics.
