Ordinary General Assembly

AmCham Tunisia announces the holding of its Ordinary General Assembly on October 27th, 10 am @ Concorde Hotel Les Berges du Lac
The agenda is as follows:
– Presentation and adoption of the AmCham activity report.
– Presentation and adoption of the financial report.
– Appointment of a new Auditor
– Set the date of the Elective General Assembly

Naceur Hidoussi
President

GSP ANALYSIS TRADE ORGANIC POTENTIAL TUNISIA-USA

Presentation of GSP

U.S. trade preference programs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is the largest and oldest U.S. trade preference program. Established by the Trade Act of 1974, (this program aims to foster the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system and promote development through trade)
GSP promotes economic development by eliminating duties on thousands of products when imported from one of 119 designated beneficiary countries and territories.

 

US Tunisia trade key data

Tunisia is currently the 99th largest goods trading partner with $931 million in total (two way) goods trade during 2019.
Goods exports totaled $461 million
Goods imports totaled $470 million
The U.S. goods trade deficit with Tunisia was $9 million in 2019.
According to the US Department of Commerce, U.S. exports of goods to Tunisia supported an estimated 3 thousand jobs in the USA in 2015 (latest data available).

Top Export Category to the US

•U.S. goods export from Tunisia totaled $470 million in 2019 up 44.2% from 2009
•The top export categories
•electrical machinery ($102 million)
•animal or vegetable fats and oils -olive oil ($97 million)
•woven apparel ($58 million)
•machinery ($49 million)
•and edible fruit & nuts (date, fig) ($19 million)

Top 25 of GSP underutilized codes results in loss of $28 millions USD for Tunisia exporters

USTR data 2019

Actions

Inform
•About 20% of Tunisia companies eligible to a GSP privilege are not claiming or underutilizing GSP – mainly in the automotive – aeronautics
Increase quotas
•About 80% of Tunisia exports under GSP are food related items. The quotas are nearly fully utilized (95%)

 

ADD HS codes

There is a large untapped potential in the automotive (electronics – cables, etc.)
(cf. ITC data –Trade DSM)
•Members requested for new HS: fruits / automotive / Dates Paste / Packaged Dates / Tuna and Sardines in olive oil / Tires / Galvanized tubes and coils / Electrical sub-assembly Cards Equipped with an Electronic Integrated Circuit (Smart Cards) / Printed circuits board / plastic parts / Aluminum box / Articles / sanitary ware / Ceramics / Floor tiles

Advocacy for GSP

Discussion with USTR
•Better understand how countries are evaluated and GSP reconducted
•Addendum of HS codes that can promote new sectors (cf. success story of arts and crafts)-
•also help Tunisia better integration since GSP represents only 32% of traded goods with US
•Technical assistance – capacity building programs (cosmetics – drugs)
Communication on GSP
•Discussion with private sector to increase awareness
•Modelization with international trade specialist to understand the impact of GSP on new sectors
•Consultation with agri-food sector to better understand needs related to GSP (Quotas, renewal, etc.)

 

 

The AmCham Sfax Chapter is renewed!

In the presence of His Excellency Joey Hood, United States Ambassador to Tunisia, the handover and presentation of the new Members of the Executive Board of the AMCHAM Sfax Chapter (Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce) took place.

This event was an opportunity for Members and Friends of the chamber to meet and discuss with Ambassador Joey Hood, who is visiting Sfax for the first time.

Indeed Mr Amin Sellami succeeds Mr Nabil Triki at the head of the chamber.

The New President Mr Amin Sellami presented the members of his executive office which is composed as follows:

Mrs.Sana Keskes-Mr.Sami Triki-Mrs.Emna Ben Arab-Mr.Moez Regayeg-Mrs.Rym Makhloufi-Mr.Ahmed Masmoudi-Mrs.RandaTmar-Mr.Malek Triki-Mrs.Neila Borgi-Mr.Omar Chaari-Mr.Kamel Moalla & Mr.Anis Yaiche

Breakfast Debate on the Honor of H.E Joey Hood, United States Ambassador to Tunisia

Ambassador Joey Hood received a warm welcome on March 1st from AmCham Board Members & US Companies established in Tunisia. Ambassador  Hood and AmCham members discussed avenues to strengthen U.S. investment in Tunisia, enhance the bilateral trade partnership, and bolster Tunisians’ economic opportunities.

 

US BUSINESS VISA PROGRAM

Through the launch of the U.S. Business Visa Program, AmCham Tunisia members will be able to request visa appointments for business travel to the United States. The U.S. Business Visa Program aims to further expand commercial ties between the United States and Tunisia by assisting AmCham members in developing deeper connections with their American business counterparts.

Prosper Africa Webinar December 15th, 2020

AmCham Tunisia & Tunisian Investment Authority (TIA) organized a Webinar on Prosper Africa on December 15th. About 86 participants from Tunisia as well as other African countries, and from the USA attended the event.

Speakers of this Webinar :
* Mr.Naceur Hidoussi, President AmCham Tunisia
* Mr. Beligh Ben Soltane, Chairman, Tunisia Investment Authority
* Ambassadeur Riadh Essid, Directeur Général Amérique-Asie-Océanie (DGAA)
* Mr.John Hansen, Senior Advisor for Transactions, Prosper Africa Executive   Secretariat, Washington DC, USA
* Mrs. Rym Bedoui Ayari, VP, AmCham Tunisia, Moderator

The webinar featured a presentation of TIA services to support extensions and or new US investments  in Tunisia. Amcham highlighted the importance of the Prosper Africa initiative for the US investment and trade flow in the country and the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed the opportunities provided to US private sector in the continent’s free trade areas such as AfCFTA and pursuing negotiations on FTA.

Prosper Africa coordinator, John Hansan shared a presentation on the initiative (click on link).

Bellow how to submit your project:

Prosper Africa POC — ProsperAfrica@usaid.gov.  Interested companies can use this email to submit Prosper Africa candidate projects, which goes to our expert team in Washington.  Companies can cc Luis and me for awareness, but the Washington-based team is best-suited to evaluate proposals and respond to project questions.

Guidelines and information needed for submissions are included here: https://prosperafrica.dfc.gov/prosper-africa-inquiries/  General information on Prosper Africa and its programs is here: https://prosperafrica.dfc.gov/

INVEST IF Platform EOI  — The purpose of this form is for Tunisian SMEs (or Tunisia-based U.S. SMEs) to express interest in receiving investment facilitation support or for other ecosystem players (investors, accelerators, etc.) to recommend SMEs to receive support. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFoe-V67n-dQ50dx65RcIFrAESjM082uv2aoIbDls7s1mANQ/viewform

Webinar on the impact of the US Post Election on the US / Tunisian relations

You are kindly invited to join us for a webinar on December 9th, 3pm to discuss about the impact of the US Post Election on the US / Tunisian relations:

Guest Speakers:

Mr. Khemaies Jhinaoui, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (link Bio)
Mr. Jacob Walles, 2012–2015 US Ambassador to Tunisia (link Bio)

RSVP To receive the login and password