Tunisia A forum to recover its Africahood

By Dounia Ben Mohamed, reporting from Tunis

“This forum is the occasion for Tunisia to gain back its Africahood forsaken a for long time in the framework of a co-development.” These words by Omar Behi, Tunisia minister of Trade and Industry, on the sidelines of the first edition of Forum Economique Africain that took place in Tunis April 24-25, summarize the ambition of the meeting.

Organized with no formal protocol and pomp even if staged the Hotel Laico which has just been inaugurated, the gathering held under the sponsorship of the Tunisia Ministry of Trade, was a meeting between the “Tunisian private sector and decision making stakeholders from the continent”, the minister also noted. if some Tunisian businessmen, initiators such as Soroubat, Lilas, Poulina and others did not wait for their state officials in order to conquer Africa,  the Tunisian expertise still remains unknown. In a post-revolution Tunisia which is extremely searching for its identity and the construction of its society model, Africa becomes or is becoming, important to underline it, an import axis.

Through 5 sector-based workshops _ civil engineering, TICS, higher education, agribusiness, health; that is sectors where Tunisia displays a know-how to share with African peers _ Tunisian ministers linked to the meeting but mainly private sector stakeholders according to organizers gave presentations to participants; 150 personalities from the continent and over 500 Tunisians, on the made in Tunisia know-how.

« Foreigners are investing in our country whereas our wealthy people are investing elsewhere. The day we will see Beninese considering Tunisian companies as local firms, we therefore will have made a major step.”

A « frank meeting », said Khaled Igue, a Beninese, Chairman of the think thank Club 2030 Afrique, who called on African leaders around the leitmotiv “African solution to African problems”. “We, Africans, are very lucky. We did not initiate globalization but we have finally accepted it, with a strong resilience. With no fallback on ourselves while Europe is reeling with the rise of extremists, he stressed. “Today, we, African can be more competitive by establishing trust of Africans in Africa. We are facing an immense financial flight and brain drain. Foreigners are investing in our country whereas our wealthy people are investing elsewhere. The day we will see Beninese considering Tunisian companies as local firms, we will therefore have made a major step in that regard.”

His neighbor, Senegalese Moustapha Sow, CEO of SF Capital went further. “Today if we want to enter into competition with Turkish, Chinese, and others on certain types of projects, we must think otherwise.” Relying on his experience from the Islamic Development Bank (BID), he continued: “The BID has a department that funds projects in Africa but they are seldom sollicited by Africans contrary to Europeans who use these tools. There is a lack of knowledge of existing financial means.” In calling on his colleagues from Tunisian to invest in Africa, it advised them: “When you want to go a country, try to find local partner company. An integrating Africa will be therefore a reality.”

“Everybody is looking at Africa whereas in reality, we do not look at it enough at as we should”.

“Everybody is looking at Africa whereas in reality, we do not look at it enough as we should, said the Tunisia Trade minister. Foreign companies are rushing to the continent and what about we?” Announcing at the occasion the launch of a Tunis-Dakar-Abidjan-Accra maritime lane by June 4 2018, and hailing the participation of 7 countries in the building of the trans-Saharan road and funders who supported it, he called on changing our way to work. World companies when they come to work in Tunisia or in Africa, they form a consortium with local companies. We are not used to working together. To do so, we must learn to trust one another, trust our competences, our companies, our consulting firms…. And we, the state, must support our companies to ensure that market procurement regulations are respected and build the Africa of tomorrow from our hands.”

The BtoB meetings which took place on the sidelines of the event helped undoubtedly tie bonds between Tunisian and Sub-Saharan stakeholders. The forum, according to Radhi Meddeb, General Commissioner of Forum Economique Africain also attained one of its set primary objectives. “Personally, as General Commissioner of this forum, I can tell you that we have gone beyond the objectives set for the event. We embarked on this work in a short time, without means designed for equivalent events, and I think that the outcome is beyond expectations, with regards to international and local domestic participation, with regards to the quality of debates, speakers, recommendations made at this forum. A lot of people came to congratulate us at the end, to express their satisfaction, and finally it is the best barometer to judge the success, or not, of an event. We are not in auto-satisfaction, we are aware of shortcomings that might have occurred, at the level of the organization namely, the need to have a larger participation… We are going continue in the coming weeks to draw up the conclusions in order to reinforce the pertinent recommendations and in a short period work so that the event does not stop here but become a habit.”

A trip of Tunisia health entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire in coming June

If the absence of the Prime Minister at opening ceremony caught attention, the accessibility and the humility of the ministers present was much appreciated, in addition to the expertise of Tunisian economic stakeholders already present in Africa gave quality to the event. Waiting for a second edition for which several participants pledged their participation, a horde of Tunisian entrepreneurs in the health sector will be in Abidjan in June, an opportunity to pave the way for a real South-South cooperation in a sector that is at the heart of challenges facing the continent.

For more information: Round table Health Towards new models?

By Dounia Ben Mohamed, reporting from Tunis