The technopark of Sakiet Ezzit, Sfax governorate, on Thursday, hosted a meeting that brought together a group of company managers, academics and representatives of professional and business in the region.
The meeting was arranged by the Tunisian-British Chamber of Commerce (TBCC) within the framework of regional Roadshow launched in the regions of Tunisia with the aim of “enhancing opportunities for cooperation and export to the British market” and developing tripartite relations with the African continent.
The Roadshow will also be organised in Bizerte on October 14, 2021 and Sousse on December 4, 2021.
In his remarks, head of the Tunisian British Chamber of Commerce, Jad Merabet, said Sfax, which is a gateway to southern Tunisia, can be a starting point for exploring and valuing opportunities to access the British market for many Tunisian company. It can also contribute to increasing trade and secure a more balanced and efficient trade balance with the British partner.
He also considered that the governorate of Sfax could be a starting base towards the promising African market through Tunisian-British-African tripartite cooperation.
Merabet spoke about the importance of the financing line the British government makes available to Tunisians at home wishing to carry out export operations to the British market, and the British wishing to make investments in Tunisia.
The value of this line, UK Export to Finance to Tunisia is estimated at 9.65 billion dinars (2.5 billion pounds), knowing that one of the conditions for benefiting from this funding is that at least 20 percent of the project’s components be of British origin.
For her part, the Director of the International Trade Department at the British Embassy in Tunisia, gave an overview of the opportunities available in Tunisia and aspects of Tunisian-British cooperation in many industrial, financial, commercial and technological sectors and cooperation with private sector institutions, chambers of commerce and industry and other structures.
She said Tunisia is an important business destination in view of many factors and advantages, including human resources. However, cooperation with the United Kingdom faces some obstacles, such as the language barrier and the weak level of political stability.
She noted that Britain’s trade with Tunisia do not exceed 1,554 million dinars, compared to 3,886 million dinars with Morocco and 2,325 million dinars with Algeria.
She, on the other hand, pointed to some success stories in the Tunisian-British economic cooperation and the role of many components of civil society and professional structures.
The delegation representing the Tunisian-British Chamber of Commerce and the British Embassy in Tunisia, in addition to representatives of the present institutions, visited the components of the technopark, especially the structures incubating emerging projects and specialized digital companies. Among these structures are Costart, Primatech, which specialises in developing automotive software, and the Center for Intelligent Industries 4.0.
Source: TAP News Agency