Tunisian and Egyptian ministers have reaffirmed this week their desire to strengthen bilateral trade and develop joint investments, during the 18ᵉ session of the Tuniso-Egyptian mixed commission and the economic forum held in Cairo.
Hassan Khatib, Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, insisted on the need for balanced trade relations between the two countries and on the importance of opening up to African markets. Egypt is currently developing six logistics centers on the continent, offering Tunisia strategic opportunities to facilitate common exchanges and projects.
Samir Abid, Tunisian Minister for Trade and Export Development, stressed that “our economic and commercial relations have not yet reached the level of potential that our two economies can offer”. He called to diversify exchanges, support SMEs and encourage concrete partnerships between Tunisian and Egyptian companies.
The private sector at the heart of the partnership
Samir Majoul, president of UCI, recalled the key role in the private sector and the importance of a qualitative jump in economic cooperation. He insisted on the need to remove obstacles, develop the legal framework and promote investment in strategic sectors: health, food security, renewable energies and communication technologies.
Concrete initiatives for the future
The two governments and the chambers of commerce have agreed to set up a roadmap, to identify the priority sectors and to organize regular meetings between economic actors. The objective is to create an ecosystem favorable to common investments while strengthening regional and Arabic economic integration.
The 18ᵉ session of the mixed commission shows a strong political and economic will to transform the Tunisian-Egypt partnership into a regional growth engine. Between lifting of obstacles, support for SMEs and openness to Africa, the two countries seek to take full advantage of their economic complementarity and their strategic position.
