Tunisia-FM Jerandi meets in Japan with JETRO President

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Othman Jerandi, who is visiting Japan, on Thursday, held a meeting with Chairperson and CEO of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Nobuhiko Sasaki.

The meeting discussed the latest preparations of Tunisia to host the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) next August 27 and 28.

Jerandi stressed the importance of this conference, given the challenges facing the African continent and the tough economic situation endured by most economies in the world, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The FM said Tunisia is looking forward to seeing JETRO encourage Japanese companies to visit the country and take part in the business forum that will be held within the framework of this event in association with the public and private sectors of both countries.

Jerandi highlighted the importance of promoting a greater balance of the Tunisian-Japanese trade balance, while shedding light on promising untapped cooperation opportunities between the two countries.

Tunisia aspires to further develop its economic and trade relations with Japan and to boost its exports to this market, Jerandi added.

He highlighted the need to reactivate the memorandum of understanding signed in 2019 between JETRO and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA), to establish fruitful relations between the two institutions.

Sasaki, for his part, expressed his full confidence in Tunisia’s ability to ensure the success of this event, recalling that Tunisia, which is a major economic partner for Japan, is attracting growing interest from Japanese investors.

He emphasised the readiness of his organisation to encourage and stimulate investments and trade between the two countries as well as to develop cooperation programmes with Tunisia.

Tunisia had obtained the agreement to host the TICAD 8 at the end of the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) held on February 9 and 10, 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

TICAD aims to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and partners, and mobilise support for Africa-led development initiatives.

(TAP)