TUNIS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia is able to recover its position as the leading south Mediterranean exporter to Europe by 2020, said Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed on Thursday.
The prime minister made the remarks during a national conference on Tunisian industry and small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to Chahed, since January 2017, Tunisian industrial exports have exceeded 31 billion dinars (12.76 billion U.S. dolllars). The country's exports are expected to exceed 47 billion dinars (19.35 billion dollars) in 2020.
"We are able to fulfill this objective thanks to measures the government has taken, in addition to the recovery of the national economy with, in particular, 1.9 percent of growth in 2017, as well as the recovery of productivity and the ambitious spirit of our industrial enterprises," the prime minister said.
According to Chahed, an economic roadmap of the government for the coming period provides that 20 percent of Tunisian industrial exports would be technological content, against 15 percent in 2017.
"We expect to reach about 3 billion dinars of industrial investments made by 2020 against 2.2 billion dinars for the 2017 fiscal year," he said.
Tunisia's prime minister also assured the industry sector aims to create not less than 580,000 jobs for an average growth of 25,000 jobs per year.
Chahed has tried to share the future programs of his cabinet with manufacturers and key players in this vital sector for the growth of the Tunisian GDP.
He announced the launch of a new pilot project that will support 50 companies active in innovative sectors and will be called the "Champions of Tunisian Industry."
In addition, "Tunis Technology City" is a project that will cover 500 hectares including 250 hectares in the service of industrialization and automotive components.
On the other hand, an amount of about 400 million dinars (164.64 million dollars) was released for the year 2018 as part of a three-year plan, in favor of 600 SMEs wishing to realize their financial upgrade.
