The official announcement of the creation of the Tunisian-Libyan continental trade route to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa was made yesterday, Thursday August 10, 2023, during the holding of the joint ministerial meeting between Tunisia and Libya, under the co-chaired by the Minister of Trade and Export Development, Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, and the Libyan Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohamed Ali Houij, in the presence of high-level delegations from both countries.
The two parties stressed “the need to rehabilitate and develop the border crossing, Ras Jdir, in accordance with international standards, so that it is a commercial hub towards Africa, and a means to achieve economic inclusion and complementarity. , in particular with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to the establishment of a three-dimensional Tunisian-Libo-African partnership”.
Libya supports Tunisia with Comesa
The Libyan side expressed its support for Tunisia’s file in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which includes technical and logistical support for the contribution to the development of the aforementioned crossing point.
The two ministers affirmed “the need to broaden the fields of cooperation, to consolidate and develop bilateral trade and to raise them to the level of strategic relations, through the construction of fruitful partnerships, investment projects…”
Trade between the two countries has experienced an upward pace, reaching 3027 million dinars in 2022, against 2020 million dinars in 2021, recording an increase of 49.8%. Both parties are betting on their development to reach 5,000 million dinars.
In doing so, the meeting announced the creation of liaison teams, in particular the one intended to solve the problems at the level of the border crossing, Ras Jdir, to strengthen cooperation in the field of pharmaceutical and food safety, as well as the one responsible for monitoring the creation of the trade route within the framework of the convention of the African Continental Free Trade Area (Zlecaf)…
Tunis and Tripoli signed, on the sidelines of this meeting, memorandums of understanding affecting different sectors.
