The Tunis Agreement establishing the Alliance of French-speaking employers was signed in Tunis by 23 French-speaking employers, whose representatives traveled to Tunisia to attend the ceremony held at the headquarters of UTICA. This new institution will have the mission to accelerate the flow of business between French-speaking companies.
The Presidents of employers from 31 French-speaking countries have signed, officially, in the presence of the Head of Government of Tunisia, the statutes establishing the Alliance of French-speaking Employers. This new body, designed by the French-speaking private sectors, will have a permanent organization and will have the mission to accelerate business flows between French-speaking companies.
The creation of the Alliance comes six months after the first REF Francophone and the Paris Declaration. It demonstrates the continuity of action and the determination of the founding employers to build a concrete economic Francophonie around companies. As the third business language in the world, French needs to be structured on a large scale.
This alliance, bringing together a total of 31 employers, reflects the resolution to build a concrete economic Francophonie around businesses. It will be endowed with a permanent organization and its mission will be to accelerate business flows between French-speaking companies, to coordinate the Francophone action of the most representative professional organizations in each of the member countries, to establish shared diagnoses and to be a force for proposals, according to the text of the agreement.
« The alliance of French-speaking employers is of particular importance because it offers an ideal platform to forge together innovative and ambitious approaches in order to increase our economic exchanges and to exploit all the economic potential of our French-speaking area »
Presiding over the signing ceremony held in the presence of the President of UTICA, Samir Majoul and that of MEDEF, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, the Head of Government, Najla Bouden stressed « the relevance of the approach to give substance to a more active economic Francophonie, whose contours were outlined at the last meeting of Francophone entrepreneurs in Paris in August 2021.
She added: « This new economic partnership framework is all the more necessary as our French-speaking area in the north and south is facing major challenges that require more convergence and solidarity against the backdrop of the health crisis and the conflict in Ukraine and their socio-economic ramifications.
The Head of Government also indicated that « in this unprecedented situation, the alliance of French-speaking employers is particularly important because it provides an appropriate platform to forge together innovative and ambitious approaches to increase our economic exchanges and exploit the full economic potential of our Francophone space.
« We have many assets that favor the establishment of a true space for development and growth. In addition to the common cultural and linguistic base, our space represents a market of more than 500 million people and participates in 16% of the world GDP with an average annual growth of 7%. It is therefore more important than ever for us to seize these opportunities and pool our resources in order to give an economic boost to the Francophonie, » she said.
Bouden also said that « Tunisia intends to actively contribute to consolidate the economic dimension of the Francophone project in order to make it a lever of potential growth and inclusive Co-development.
Still according to her « the role of the private sector would be in this perspective crucial and in harmony with the action of other stakeholders in this case public authorities, local authorities and non-governmental organizations.
« In this perspective, the alliance of francophone employers constitutes a real spearhead capable of supporting the growth dynamic in our common space and accelerating its economic resilience. To do this, we will gain by focusing our economic action on innovative and high value-added sectors such as the green economy, the blue economy, renewable energies, digital, resilient infrastructure, research-development-innovation, health, sustainable agriculture and agri-food.
In these areas, our Francophone zone has considerable assets, not only in terms of natural resources but also, and especially in human capital, especially young people who will represent three quarters of the Francophone population by 2060, » she noted.
She continued, « It is also important to identify a more integrated scheme of operational cooperation between private operators to explore together better business opportunities and support the relocation to Francophone supply chains and values, more stable and more resilient. Also, a win-win partnership in the medium and long term between the private sector and the public sector will allow our economies to prosper in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
Bouden has also estimated that « the networking of Francophone employers should create a new entrepreneurial momentum especially among young people and women and pool comparative advantages, with the aim of creating a Francophone economic pole and it is in this spirit that Tunisia has participated in the design and drafting of the strategy for the economic Francophonie 2021-2025, adopted in 2020 and the strategy on the digital period 2022-2026;
« This platform will not only constitute a force of proposal; but will act as a lever of cooperation and development between the French-speaking private operators for the realization of an economically integrated French-speaking space »
« Tunisia, which will host the 18th edition of the Francophonie Summit in November 2022, will place the economy at the heart of the agenda of the Francophonie, through the Francophone economic forum to be held on November 20 and 21. Moreover, the theme chosen for this summit, namely « Connectivity in diversity: the digital vector of development and solidarity in the Francophone space » is indicative of the importance of the economic dimension in the new direction of the Francophonie, » she said.
And to conclude « the signing today of the agreement establishing the alliance of francophone employers is an additional milestone on the road to economic rapprochement of francophone countries. This platform will not only constitute a force of proposal; but will act as a lever of cooperation and development between the French-speaking private operators for the realization of an economically integrated French-speaking space.
The next major meeting of the Alliance is scheduled in Abidjan in October 2022 for the holding of « La REF Francophone 22 », which will present the first results of six months of actions. The Francophone employers will also have the opportunity to meet in November 2022 in Djerba, during the 18th Summit of the Francophonie, organized by the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).
