Tunisian and Italian businessmen are involved in several approaches aiming at boosting partnership and bringing trade exchanges to higher levels
A workshop on ways to strengthen relations between Tunisian and Italian business spheres was held on Monday in Tunis by the Agency for the Promotion of Italian- Mediterranean-European Relations (APREIME), in association with Federexport Italia.
The meeting was attended by Italian and Tunisian businessmen who discussed business opportunities offered by the Tunisian site and ways to further boost bilateral co-operation.
On the sidelines of the workshop, a framework co-operation agreement was signed between APREIME and the Sousse local Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts.
It provides notably for exchanging economic information between the two sides, bolstering bilateral co-operation and jointly taking part in the European Neighbourhood Policy Project (ENPI) aimed to establish a Mediterranean platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises.
APREIME Chairman Per Luigi Polverari said, on the occasion, that Tunisia and Italy are models in seeking peace in the Mediterranean, paying tribute to the efforts exerted by the Head of State in this area.
According to Italian news agency ANSAmed, the workshop attended by the main players in Tunisian and Italian import and export which took place On Monday in Tunis was further proof that, apart from a traditional friendship in the political field, and solid economic ties, there are margins for further growth, and they are sizeable margins,
In 36th position in terms of competitiveness among the 134 industrialised nations; the largest economy in Africa and the 5th on an Arab level: this data is all that is needed to explain how Tunisia is seen by foreign entrepreneurs and investors.
However, the country believes, and probably rightly so, that it is capable of attracting new investments and capital flow to tie its industry to the strong economies of other countries. So
ANSAmed report adds Tunisia’s economy relies heavily on foreign trade, as confirmed by the impact of imports (50.7% in 2007) and exports (40.3%) on the country’s GDP. This impressive figure is confirmed by Tunisia’s reputation for reliability among a number of international agencies, and praise from the IMF over its ability to roll with the punches handed out by the international crisis. A crisis which has, however, made an impact, with foreign trade down by 33.8% in terms of exports, and down by 20.7% in terms of imports in the first eight months of the year. The figures show varying performances in several sectors, such as footwear and leather goods, an industry which has trebled in ten years to become the reference market for the EU, and especially France, Italy and Germany. Today’s meeting, organised by Apreime, a body which has been providing assistance to Italian companies in Tunisia for about fifteen years, confirmed this trend, and gave a further opportunity for meeting, as president of Apreime Pier Luigi Polverari noted. It was noted from the exchange of experience and projects ”that Tunisia is a country which, thanks to its political solidity and the resulting security, offers itself as an opportunity for Italy”, he added. He was also referring to the robust privatization programme which was launched about ten years ago, which translated into substantial interest by foreign investors and in turn to an increase in direct foreign investments, at an average of 870 million Euros per year in the last decade. This figure is very high in relation to the size of the Tunisian market.
A different approach emerged from Tunis meeting from the approach which for years has characterized Italian entrepreneurs towards countries where investments have been channeled, both in terms of finance and know how. As Gianfredo Comazzi, national president of Federexport pointed out, as he summed up the presence of the Italian delegation in Tunis in three words: understand, learn, know. And remember that this is no longer the era of ”cut and run”, but of exchange.
