Minister of Economy and Planning Samir Saied, British Ambassador Helen Winterton and the British-Tunisian Chamber of Commerce last Thursday welcomed a large number of banks and financial institutions and representatives from the public and private sectors to open a series of events aimed at promoting British export finance.
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the UK’s credit export agency, which provides attractive financing terms for Tunisian buyers, allowing them to purchase UK capital goods and services. 9.8 billion dinars are available for Tunisian projects.
Major projects across Africa – including hospitals, roads, airports and sustainable energy sources – are being developed with UKEF support. 2.5 billion (DT 9.8 billion) of funding is available in Tunisia.
SOMEVAM, a Kairouan-based subsidiary of the Tunisian Sebri Group, received £10 million (TND 39 million) from UK Export Finance last year. This enabled them to purchase silica sand washing equipment from specialist British manufacturer CDE.
UK Ambassador Helen Winterton said that “the UK Export Finance provides an excellent opportunity for Tunisian projects, and I urge companies and government partners to seize it.”
“The UK is working to ensure that Tunisian businesses and buyers can access the finance they need to grow, create jobs and boost the economy”, she added.
For his part, TBCC President Jed Mrabet affirmed that: “In its role as an interface between local and British economic actors as well as the UKEF, the TBCC remains aware of the opportunities offered by the geostrategic position that makes our country a privileged gateway to access African markets… For Tunisia, post-Brexit and post-Covid, the UK has become a springboard for business development and for the conquest of other export markets. Tunisia is at the same time the link par excellence between the two shores of the Mediterranean and to be a hub for Africa”.
In a speech delivered by Minister of Economy and Planning, Samir Said, he expressed his satisfaction and gratitude for such a British economic initiative that allows entrepreneurs in Tunisia to obtain funds and guarantees to develop and expand their projects, especially in such a period of financial difficulties and reduction of Tunisia’s sovereign rating.
TunisianMonitorOnline (By Abdel Majid Thabet)
