Egypt, Tunisia announce 2022-2023 a year of activating economic cooperation

CAIRO – 13 May 2022:  Egypt and Tunisia agreed to make 2022-2023 a year of activating economic cooperation between the two countries, and to activate a maritime shipping line between both sides.

This was announced by Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Mabouli in his speech at the Egyptian-Tunisian Economic Forum that was co-chaired by him and his Tunisian counterpart Najla Bouden on Thursday.

“It requires us to work immediately to achieve this,” said Mabdouli, adding that there are no restrictions on businessmen between the two countries.

Madbouli noted that the trade exchange volume between the two countries witnessed a decline during the past two years to nearly 50 percent due to the successive crises of the coronavirus and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Egypt is ready to activate a regular maritime line between the two countries, but the private sector must participate on both sides,” he said.

For her part, the Tunisian Prime Minister said that her country is working on facilitating the entry procedures with the electronic visa for businessmen, with the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to support and enhance aspects of cooperation in the areas of digitization and improve the level of services.

As for olive oil production, the Tunisian Minister of Agriculture affirmed his country’s complete readiness to cooperate with the Egyptian side and exchange experiences in this field, and establish partnerships aimed at providing the Egyptian olive oil producer with more high-quality strain to be able to compete in the global market.

The number of cooperation agreements between both sides are 11 in various fields, said Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania al Mashat.

In statements to Egyptian state-owned news agency MENA on Friday, Mashat added: “Tunisian side is keen to benefit from the Egyptian experiment in several fields, including social solidarity and supporting megaprojects.”