Under the auspices of the Ministry of development and international cooperation, the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA Tunisia) organized the 10th edition of the Carthage Investment Forum which took place on the 12th and 13th of June  at the Hotel Karthago-Le Palace in Gammarth.

"Investing in the future" was the slogan adopted for this 10th edition of the Forum. The official opening which was done by the Prime Minister Mr. Mohamed GHANNOUCHI was in line with the strategy for attracting direct foreign investment, with the knowledge economy and with the integration of Tunisia in the Euromed zone, namely after the enforcement since January 1st 2008 of the Association Agreement and the establishment of a Free trade zone signed by Tunisia and the European Union in 1995.

In addition to the welcome address by Mr. Mohamed Nouri JOUINI, Minister of development and international cooperation, the first day of the forum included speeches by Mr. Hédi JILANI, Chairmen of UTICA (Tunisian Union for Industry, Trade and Handicrafts) and by Mr. Peter GRIMSDITCH, Editor in Chief of the Oxford Business Group who made a presentation on the factors contributing to the sustainable attractiveness of Tunisia as an investment site.

The key moments of the Forum tenth edition were the "awards" assigned to 7 foreign investors who distinguished themselves mostly through their work in Tunisia.

This first initiative in the Forum's history shows that Tunisia gives importance to and has esteem for foreign companies and their investments in our country.

Apart from the 70 Tunisian and foreign journalists, this 10th Edition of the Carthage Forum has gathered 883 participants of which 519 Tunisians et 364 foreigners coming from 19 European, American, Arab and Asian countries.

Three workshops in line with the Forum's second day's program have respectively dealt with "Integration in the Euromed zone, an asset for the attractiveness of the site Tunisia", "Manufacturing industry: reaching higher stages of technicality" and "Tunisia: a regional center for high added value services".

The three workshops were also an opportunity to share the experiences of Tunisian and foreign companies operating in Tunisia and working namely in the fields of industrial production, engineering and Research and development.

The second day of the forum was equally devoted to organizing a partnership and networking contacts. A first evaluation of this action has shown that 90 foreign companies and 172 Tunisian ones have participated in these business meetings achieving hence 251 contacts in the following categories:

• 27.2% partnership
• 17.2% technical cooperation
• 17.9% sub-contracting
• 15.2% co-production
• 22.5% other actions.

Besides, 30 ideas of projects were identified during this tenth edition and will be subject to a close follow-up by the involved FIPA managers.