Special Report | Tunisia – Open for business
As the UK is leaving the European Union, it is a new market for Tunisia: the second biggest in Europe, the fifth or sixth biggest in the world and only a threehour flight from Tunis
Why should Tunisian business consider the UK market? As the UK is leaving the European Union, it is a new market for Tunisia: the second biggest in Europe, the fifth or sixth biggest in the world and only a three-hour flight from Tunis. To develop commercial relations, we have the UK Export Finance (UKEF) programme, which offers good support and attractive financing options. In 2017, UKEF doubled the support available for trade with Tunisia to £2bn [$2.6bn]. The programme can cover up to 85% of the cost of the project [provided 20% of the investment is from UK companies]. Tunisair benefited from buyer credit worth £73.2m for a contract with Airbus SAS in 2016, for instance. More globally, the Tunisia Investment Authority and the Tunisian British Chamber of Commerce are important partners for helping Tunisian companies to understand how to do successful business in the United Kingdom. Relations between Tunisia and the UK went through a rough patch after the 2015 attacks in Bardo and Sousse, in which 31 British citizens died. Are things improving? There were tragedies for both of our countries, but I would point out the impressive way Tunisia did not push their partners away. On the contrary, they turned to us, and we have developed a very close cooperation in security. Our current confidence in Tunisia is expressed in the fact that our travel advice became more favourable in July 2017 and in June 2018. In 2017, 25,000 UK visitors went to Tunisia, but we are expecting 200,000 this year. Tunisia is still going through a transitional period but it is a democratic country with a predictable political process, which is highly appreciated by UK businesses. Institutions have still to be fully established, but we have recently seen three well-run elections in four weeks [the general election and the two-round presidential election in September and October 2019]. n