Tunisia as a great economic opportunity for Spain
Following Tunisia's democratic opening, triggered by the revolutionary outbreak in December 2010, bilateral relations with Spain have been 'in crescendo'. Currently, both countries are working to consolidate an incipient cooperation that operates on both a political and economic level, and which promises to be a great opportunity for Spanish companies in the coming decades.
Within this framework, Casa Árabe and the Tunisian Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) organised an online seminar on Wednesday in collaboration with Icex and the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Madrid. The aim was to define the roadmap for extracting the maximum possible benefit from Tunisia's economic potential.
The round table brought together professionals from different sectors with extensive experience in the field. The event was attended by the Director General of Public Economy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Luis Óscar Moreno García-Cano; the Director General and Director of FIPA, Abdelbasset Ghanmi, and Ibrahim Medini, among others. The conference was also brought to a close by the ambassadors of both states, Fatma Omrani Chargui from Spain and Guillermo Ardizone García from Tunisia. The event was moderated by Olivia Orozco de la Torre, Casa Árabe's Training and Economics Coordinator.
Moreno García-Cano highlighted the economic forecasts for Tunisia from the outset. The North African country will grow at a rate of 3.8% next year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). For the Director General for Public Economy of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Tunisia's growth expectations represent "a great opportunity that we must not miss".
Along these lines, Ghanmi acknowledged that there is great potential in economic relations between Spain and Tunisia, since "Spain is one of their best partners". His colleague, Ibrahim Medini, furthered this dynamic and added that the opportunities for doing business have never been better. Furthermore, the FIPA director affirmed that "Tunisia is the gateway to Africa".
For her part, Fatma Omrani Chargui was categorical: "We are talking about economic collaboration, but the basis is collaboration between people". The Tunisian representative in Madrid advocates developing a cultural and social meeting point before moving on to the economic sphere, since "we always bear in mind that there is much more than economics".
"Investing in Tunisia means believing in an economic, political and social model in the Mediterranean," said the ambassador. For Fatma Omrani Chargui, "things go faster" when it comes to economic measures, but first the historical and cultural aspects that exist between Spain and Tunisia must be brought together.
"Spain and Tunisia can do more. We have common interests, we have ideas... that's why I think we need to get to know each other better", he said.
The North African country is currently taking part in the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on the occasion of the most important global event in the mobile communication sector. In addition, the ambassador said that they also hope to close their participation in the next international events to be held in Jaén and Madrid.
FIPA's director, Ibrahim Medini, took over from the ambassador to explain the battery of policy measures that the Tunisian government has taken to reduce bureaucracy and stimulate foreign investment. The cross-cutting law approved by the government contains, according to Medini, 10 effective measures related to the simplification of procedures and market liberalisation.
In this sense, the investment law approved in April 2017 offers investors total freedom of foreign participation in the capital of off-shore companies, a reduction in the number of authorisations and revision of specifications, the free transfer of funds abroad and free access to the ownership of non-agricultural land for the implementation of investment projects, among other 50 measures.
"We are working to respond to any request from investors," said the director of the Tunisian Investment Promotion Agency. The approval of this series of proposals has caused the country to move up eight places in the Doing Business report ranking.
Spain is the fourth largest investor in Tunisia in Europe, behind only France, Italy and Germany. The emerging economic sectors in the North African country are the agri-food, automotive and energy sectors.
In any case, "our trade balance with Tunisia is negative", according to the Director of Internationalisation of the FIAB, Verónica Puente. "Spain imports much more than it exports to Tunisia, and we are an exporting power".
"It's not enough, we have to continue and continue together," Medini acknowledged. "There is a line of credit that we have to develop".
Medini assured that Tunisia's infrastructure has been visibly improved with the construction of airports, ports and roads. However, this is where one of the most significant exchanges of the conference took place.
The general director of Transglory Tunisie and president of the Spanish-Tunisian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CTECI), Josep Perpinyà, told Medini of a series of setbacks in this area. "Logistics is a serious problem. There has been no investment in ports and logistics".
Perpinyà, a Spanish-Tunisian national, assured that his company has been losing "a lot of money in the ports" for a couple of years. And that, although there are plans on the part of the authorities, these "remain in a drawer" and do not end up materialising.
"Tunisia is paying the price of democracy", Perpinyà declared. However, for the Director General of Transglory Tunisie, the future is promising and Spanish companies "should see Tunisia as a good ally, just as they see Morocco".
The Tunisian emissary, Fatma Omrani Chargui, thanked the speakers for their work, and the Spanish ambassador to the North African country, Guillermo Ardizone García, added that "one of the greatest enemies of investment is ignorance" and that the links between the two states are "strong and real". Cooperation has just begun.