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AI: What is FIPA-Tunisia doing in order to hard-sell Tunisia’s
competitive advantages to Tier One and Two component
suppliers?
Khemiri: Targeted initiatives include sector-oriented selling
points, increase of door-to-door contacts, opening new FIPA offices
abroad (in addition to ones in Brussels, Cologne, London, Madrid,
Milan and Paris), and investing in staff training (joint programs with
European and Asian institutions to help master basic promotional
techniques). FIPA has been certified ISO9001 since 2003.
AI: What makes Tunisia popular as a base for manufacturing
production?
Khemiri: Tunisia is blessed with sound economic and social
stability reflected in a number of indicators. Tunisia attracts
the largest number of European companies than any country
from the south shore of the Mediterranean, as reported in the
Ernest & Young survey ‘National Industrial Strategy by 2016’.
By maintaining its low cost, high quality alternative together
with an effective convergence of know how and justin-time
production, Tunisia is securing its position
as an ideal place to develop businesses that
produce higher value export products.
In addition, Tunisia is well known for its
pleasant living conditions, a significant
selling point when selling the economy
as a suitable place for investments in
the Mediterranean region. The 2010
International Living Magazine ranks
Tunisia, for the second consecutive
year, the top Arab country in matters
of quality of life.
AI: What are the strategic location
advantages Tunisia enjoys in
terms of transportation, logistics
and distribution?
Khemiri: Tunisia is at the heart of the
Euro-Mediterranean logistics chain near the main
cities of Europe and on the doorstep of a market of
500 million consumers. Less than an hour’s flight from Europe,
Tunisia has eight international airports and seven commercial
ports which meet the standards of security and rapidity. A logistics
platform network is planned in the near future and will extend over
the whole country.
The World Bank’s 2010 report, ‘Connecting to Compete 2010’,
ranked Tunisia as the most efficient logistics country in North Africa
and the fifth most efficient logistics country among the lower
middle-income countries according to the Logistics Performance
Index (LPI). Tunisia is particularly well positioned in matters of timeliness
by securing the 58th position out of 155 countries.
Automotive Industries also asked Abdelkrim Dhouaifi,
director Automotive/ICT Advanced Technologies at FIPA-
Tunisia what some of the university and industry collaborative
opportunities for strategic automotive R&D are?
Dhouaifi: Tunisia regards the mastery of knowledge and technology
as a crucial factor in economic and social development.
Consequently, the country is constantly consolidating investment
in knowledge by allocating eight percent of GDP to education and
1.25% to R&D.
AI: What are some of the government legislation and taxation
incentives for foreign auto investors?
Dhouaifi: The Investment Incentives Code (IIC) governs
both foreign and national investment, affirming the freedom to
invest in most sectors except mining, energy, local trade and
finance which are governed by specific legislations. The major
investment incentives include total exemption from income
tax for ten years for export revenues and for five or ten years
for projects located in regional development zones; grants for
investment bonuses equal to eight, 15 or 25% (capped up to
1MTND); state subsidies of employer’s contributions five years
or more and varying from total to partial assumption (100 to
20%), and state subsidies for infrastructure spending for projects
in areas of regional development (25, 50 or 75%) of the
total cost.
Tunisia also puts considerable emphasis on vocational training.
The government may meet up to 50% of training costs incurred by
companies and supports continuous skills development programs
through a vocational training tax refund.
AI: What are some of the automotive joint ventures and
strategic alliances that you would deem success stories in
your country?
Dhouaifi: Some of the automotive successful joint-ventures
include Pirelli–STIP and Johnson Controls – MZABI Group (mentioned
in the introduction); Plastika France provide technical support
to GIF in filter manufacturing; Volvo and SETCAR have a technical
and commercial partnership for bus assembling; The Les Industries
Mécaniques Maghrébines (IMM) assembles pickups under the
ISUZU brand using GM engines; the Japanese company, NHK, is
the technical partner of COTREL, producing laminated springs for
trucks; and the French company, RECORD, is a technical and financial
partner of SIA in manufacturing shock absorbers.
AI: What are some of the latest automotive investments
in Tunisia?
Dhouaifi: Some of the signs of dynamism in the automotive
industry in Tunisia is the latest flow of new and add-on investments
by existing international companies. In 2008 and 2009, new projects
helped turn car cable manufacturing in Tunisia into an attractive
niche, including investments from the Japanese firms Sumitomo
and Yazaki; the construction of a second plant by German
group, Draxlmaier; and Kromberg & Schubert’s presence in Beja.
76 to read full version of AI stories go to www.ai-online.com
“
Tunisia regards the
mastery of knowledge and
technology as a crucial
factor in economic and
social development.
”
Abdelkrim Dhouaifi, director Automotive/ICT
Advanced Technologies, the
Foreign Investment Promotion Agency
of Tunisia (FIPA-Tunisia).
AI