Spanish Secretary of State in charge of Trade, Xiana Mendez, underlined, on Monday, her country’s willingness to intensify the volume of trade between the two countries.
During a Tunisian-Spanish business meeting organised by the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), Mendez, who is on an official visit to Tunisia (from May 8 to 9, 2023) leading a delegation of 30 Spanish businessmen, said that Spain’s expectations from this meeting are positive, adding that her country aims at strengthening trade relations with Tunisia.
“We will discuss cooperation opportunities in the fields of renewable energies and industry, as well as the means of setting up a common cooperation approach,” she said.
In a statement granted to TAP, she recalled that the volume of trade between Tunisia and Spain has recorded, in 2022, a record figure, reaching 1.9 billion euros. The objective is to exceed this volume and diversify bilateral trade, Mendez said.
During the meeting organised in cooperation with the Spanish Confederation of Enterprises, Minister of Trade and Export Development, Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, presented proposals to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries, stressing Tunisia’s readiness to strengthen its efforts to develop the integration of Tunisian companies in the Spanish market.
The Minister stressed the importance of developing tripartite cooperation between Tunisia, Spain and the African and Maghreb markets (Libya, Algeria, and Sub-Saharan Africa).
In the same context, she stressed the importance of implementing technical cooperation mechanisms aimed at the achievement of Tunisian-Spanish projects targeting these markets.
Ben Rejeb also stressed the importance of developing cooperation relations between the two ministries in charge of trade, which can be concretized through a bilateral cooperation agreement allowing to benefit from the Spanish competencies in several fields.
For his part, President of the Tunisian-Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CTECI), Adel Mohsen Chaâbane said that the visit of the Spanish delegation to Tunisia aims at promoting economic relations, improving the business climate between Tunisia and Spain and exploring foreign investment opportunities.
Ben Chaâbane said that Spanish companies are willing to invest in Tunisia which has several assets, including the labour force, the geographical positioning of the country as a gateway to Africa and Europe, which allows Spanish companies to produce in Tunisia and export to these markets.
In this context, he stressed that Tunisia could be a production platform that has the workforce in several areas, something that encourages Spanish companies to settle in Tunisia.
He noted that 63 Spanish companies are established in Tunisia operating in several economic fields.
Spain is Tunisia’s 4th partner after Italy, France and Germany in the field of foreign investment.
The volume of trade between Tunisia and Spain recorded in 2022 an improvement of 27% in terms of imports and 36% in terms of exports, according to data from the Ministry of Trade and Export Development.
Source : Zawya
