Tunisia – To promote African development – Tokyo comes to Tunis

Location: Tunis – Tunisia

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:05:16

Sound: natural

Source: A24 in Tunisia

Restrictions: A24 subscribers

Date: 27/08/ 2022

Storyline:

The Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) kicked off today at the Conference Palace in Tunis. This conference is an important investment and diplomatic opportunity for Tunisia, especially in light of deteriorating economic conditions.

About five  thousand attendees participated alongside presidents and foreign ministers from nearly fifty African nations in this symposium sponsored by Japan.

An Tunisian economist tells  A24 that his country has brought more than 80 project proposals to the conference in hopes to attract Japanese funding.

Mohamed Trabelsi, event spokesman  added Tunisia wants to recapture a place in the investment market and obtain financing through this event.

Trabelsi said Japan has previously financed about 42 projects in Tunisia worth 8 billion dinars – about 2.5 billion USD.

Shotlist:

– Soundbite (Mohamed Trabelsi – TICAD8 media coordinator):

“Organizing such conferences gives foreign investors, economic companies and international financial organizations a positive image of the country. Tunisia desires to once again occupy a place in the investment market and economic financing by organizing such an important event attended by 48 African countries, along with an important partner; Japan. Japan is the world’s third largest economy and a major investor in Tunisia, as it has financed about 42 projects worth 8 billion dinars. Japan has long-standing relations with Tunisia. Tunisia wants to be a locomotive for investment in African continent, by providing its human resources.”

– Soundbite (Khamis Zayani – Director General of The Agricultural Extension & Training Agency (AVFA)):

“The tripartite cooperation with Japan gives us more impetus, as it is a technologically advanced country. The idea is to establish a tripartite Japanese-Tunisian-African cooperation centered on smart agriculture. There are climate changes that have become real threat to crops and food security, and we can only address this threat through the modern technologies of smart farming.”

– Soundbite (Anis Marhi – Economist):

“Tunisia aspires to become a third stronghold for Japanese investment in Africa after Kenya and South Africa. Japan should have presence in North Africa and West Africa and Tunisia can take advantage of this opportunity to become the gateway for Japanese investment in these two regions. Tunisia has submitted 81 investment projects to Japanese parties hoping to attract them. These projects involve communication technologies, agriculture, automobile manufacturing, aircraft manufacturing and satellite manufacturing with Telnat. Tunisia hopes that these 81 investments worth $2.7 billion will be the focus of attention and interest for Japan.”