Strong together: Tunisia and Germany celebrate a decade of successful cooperation

According to Jörn Bousselmi, Managing Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Tunisia, Partnering in Business with Germany is a complementary, practice-oriented platform for Tunisian and German firms to initiate business relations. He said: “The programme faciliates the entry into the German market and offers prospects for long-term business relations thanks to numerous personal contacts. “In light of Tunisia’s geographical proximity to the European Union, there is still a lot of potential for bilateral cooperation – potential which can be tapped in the context of the programme together with the bilateral chamber of commerce in Tunisia.” He stressed this point by saying: “The Chamber of Commerce regards a closer link with the programme as useful so that we can also support enterprises in a targeted way after the initial contact phase.”

SMEs as a success factor

During the 1st session of the steering committee, both the Tunisian side and the German side took stock of the work done so far and discussed the next steps of their cooperation. They underlined the importance both of the programme for the external trade relations between the two countries and of SMEs for business cooperation, especially in the field of exports. Partnering in Business with Germany thus makes a specific contribution to attaining the objectives of the Tunisian government regarding the diversification and modernisation of the country’s economy. The programme is focused on sectors which are of interest both to the Tunisian and to the German economy. In this way, it enhances the prospects of successful economic cooperation between companies from the two countries.