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Tunisia: gateway to Africa,
Europe and the Middle East By:
Tunisia is proving an attractive automotive investment
destination with its geographical proximity to Europe, Africa
and the Middle East.
The country is the first South Mediterranean country to join the
European Union Free Trade Area, giving Tunisia free access to the EU
markets. Investments in the country increased by 2.3% to 2.4 billion
Tunisian Dinars (US$1.73 billion) in the first eleven months of 2009
compared to 1.8 billion TND (US$1.31 billion) the previous year.
The investments were mainly made in high-tech sectors such as the
electronics, electrical and mechanical industries. Tunisia has also fared
well in the Davos World Economic Forum’s latest report on
“
Tunisia is at the heart
of the Euro-Mediterranean
logistic chain, near the
main cities of Europe
and on the doorstep
of a market of 500
million consumers.
”
Mongia Khemiri, general director, The
Foreign Investment Promotion Agency
of Tunisia (FIPA-Tunisia)
global competitiveness for 2009-2010 which ranked Tunisia 40th
out of a total of 133 developed and emerging countries.
The automotive industry has also taken advantage of Tunisia’s
attractive investment climate. Automotive components
manufacturer, Johnson Controls, has a manufacturing base in
Bir el Bey that produces interior electronic business units (displays)
and body business units (immobilizers) for companies
such as Renault, Citroen, General Motors, Opel and Nissan.
The company has a partnership with Tunisian firm, the MZABI
Group. Other companies have joined hands with local companies
in Tunisia, like tire major Pirelli which now has a 15% stake
in the Tunisian Tire Industries Company or STIP. Pirelli now has
access to, not only the Tunisian tire market, but also to the
North and East African markets.
Gruner, which manufactures relays, solenoids and contactors
for the automotive, energy, construction and semiconductor industries,
chose Tunisia over Morocco, Portugal and Turkey because
of its stable political and economic climate as well as its
geographical location.
U.S. company, CASCO, has based one of its nine international
plants in Menzel Bourguiba, Tunisia. The company is a global automotive
Tier One supplier of electronics and electromechanical
products. It is one of the market leaders in multimedia products
for automotive consumer interface – USB ports, SD card readers,
auxiliary jacks. It prides itself on being a “global
company with local experts.”
Tunisians enjoy a high standard of education
which makes it easy for foreign companies
in the country to hire skilled workers.
Around 60 000 young Tunisians graduate
from tertiary institutions every year. There
were around 370 000 students enrolled
in Tunisian universities in 2009.
In 1995, the Tunisian Ministry of
Development and International Cooperation
set up the Foreign Investment
Promotion Agency (FIPA-Tunisia) to
facilitate foreign direct investment into
the country. FIPA-Tunisia provides foreign
investors with all the support they require.
The agency has offices abroad offering information,
advice and assistance to investors.
Automotive Industries (AI) asked Mongia
Khemiri, general director of The Foreign Investment
Promotion Agency of Tunisia (FIPA-Tunisia) what made the
country a preferred destination as an automotive manufacturing
hub?
Khemiri: Tunisia has been working for over 20 years on the
development of an automotive equipment industry based on an
international subcontracting approach which aims at attracting
world equipment manufacturers. Today, Tunisia is a manufacturing
hub for dozens of foreign owned first and second-tier automotive
component manufacturers supplying parts to most of the
major American, French, German, Japanese and Swedish vehicle
manufacturers. An overall opinion of foreign investors operating in
the sector attributes Tunisia’s success to three factors – stability,
proximity and quality.
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James Hilton