Tunisia sees in Euro-Mediterranean FTA real opportunities and fierce competition

Tunisian international development and cooperation minister, Mohamed Nouri Jouini, said on Thursday a free-trade area between the Maghreb and the EU offers real opportunities for enterprises but at the same time induces a fierce international competition.

The Tunisian official, who was talking at an international conference on competitiveness and industrial modernization challenges posed by the projected free trade area, said despite ongoing efforts in south Mediterranean countries to upgrade the competitiveness of their industries, they will be facing increasingly harsh competition.

He said southern countries partnership should be more creative and renounce the conventional formulas of sub-contracting without genuine technology transfer.

Tunisia is already moving to modernize its enterprises, an effort that benefited from EU's 50 million Euro subsidies, mainly for companies that have a good growth and innovation potential, said the official.

The Tunisian strategy is focused on new information technologies, consolidating good quality infrastructure and environment-friendly industries and facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises to funds, he added.

The conference looked into several issues related to the projected free trade area and its impact on national economies, by comparing experiences of several countries.