Category: News
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.)
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.
Happy New Year to Members and Friends
With gratitude to all of you. Happy New Year from the AmCham Tunisia Board members and Staff.
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:
2020 U.S. Elections: Implications for U.S.-Africa policy Webinar
Join us for a session featuring a panel of experts that have been following the U.S. political debate, and will discuss the implications of the outcomes of the U.S. elections on U.S.-Africa policy. We introduce our speakers from Covington & Burling:
Virtual “Open Day” to learn more about the U.S. Exchange programs
Join us for a virtual “Open Day” to learn more about the U.S. Exchange programs available for Tunisians. We will be LIVE on Facebook (fb.com/usembassytunis) on Sunday, November 8, starting at 10:00 AM. More information on our programs → https://go.usa.gov/x7WTx
The U.S. Embassy Cultural attachée spoke about the exchange programs provided by the embassy in Tunisia on Radio IFM. (video)
MENA E-commerce Entrepreneur Knowledge Series
Looking to improve your e-commerce knowledge?
Join us for the “MENA E-commerce Entrepreneur Knowledge Series: E-commerce and COVID-19 Recovery for Small Businesses” from June 15 to July 2.
What is it?
Together with the World Bank and UPS, ITC is offering a series of webinars to support small business owners in the Middle East and North Africa to leverage e-commerce. We will offer:
- 6 master webinars to train on key e-commerce topics such as COVID-19 recovery recommendations, international marketplaces, shipping solutions and improving online visibility.
- 9 deep-dive clinic webinars to discuss topics ranging from online payment solutions to social media advertising and targeting local customers.
All master webinars will have simultaneous translation into English, French and Arabic. For the deep-dive clinic webinars, only the discussion and Q&A will be in any of the three languages.
Who can participate?
The webinar series is open to every entrepreneur although the focus will be on e-commerce in the following countries from the MENA region: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia.
How can you register?
To join the webinars, you will need to:
1. Register on ecomConnect.org, the e-commerce community engagement platform with a special focus on developing and least developed countries.
2. Join the group “We Fi Project in the MENA region” & register for the preferred webinars.
More information?
Check the attached programme or click here.
AmCham COVID 19, Donations
Tunisia, May 5th , 2020, As part of its continued support of Tunisia and its people, and as a sign of the long standing friendship between the people of Tunisia and the people of the USA, AmCham Tunisia, through its Board Members and Members, has donated more than 15 Million TND to the 1818 National Fund to fight the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Many other donations in kind have been given to hospitals (such as medical equipment, video conferencing equipment for the Ministry of health and Drones) as well as food for poor families.
The following companies have contributed to this effort: Abdennadher Group, CISCO, EY Tunisia, Hexabyte, Honeywell, Integration Objects, TELNET, Jansen, Philp Morris, STB and Cellcom.
AmCham Assistance with exceptional measures to resume activities for the Private Sector
Dear AmCham Member,
In the context of COVID 19 pandemia official measures, The Tunisian administration is allowing companies to seek on case by case basis an authorization to resume activities. Please find attached link below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfn-LDmoVcugDApW_KHccJErZxs41xDlW4z2LwuNDG95gzilA/viewform
AmCham is currently speaking with authorities to monitor the situation and will be available to support our members with the procedure.
Please don’t hesitate to outreach to us if you need any assistance or have questions.
Best Regards,
AmCham Tunisia