The Minister of Trade and Export Development, Samir Abid, announced on Wednesday that Tunisia has launched preparations for the continental land corridor project, in coordination with the Libyan side.
This strategic project will depart from the Ras Jedir border crossing to reach Sub-Saharan African countries, primarily targeting Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic.
Presiding, alongside Niger’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Abdoulaye Saïdou, over the proceedings of the Tunisian-Nigerien Business Forum, Samir Abid stressed that this project will help reduce the costs and timelines of export operations, ease transport and logistics difficulties, and moreover strengthen African integration.
The minister stated that pivoting toward Sub-Saharan African countries constitutes a strategic challenge for the development of trade. He noted that Tunisia has chosen to anchor its economy more firmly in the African space and to strengthen its integration as a strategic option. He recalled that Tunisia was among the first countries to participate in the Guided Trade Initiative under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), recording nearly 400 export operations carried out by Tunisian companies on African markets with the help of the certificate of origin. These operations concerned high value-added sectors, notably mechanical and electronic components, textiles and clothing, as well as agro-food industries.
He also indicated that the volume of bilateral trade between Tunisia and Niger remains modest given the potential available to strengthen it and raise its level, as well as the needs of the Nigerien market, Tunisian industrial expertise, and opportunities offered within the AfCFTA agreement. He added that the shared responsibility is to structure exchanges, diversify products in both directions, promote industrial partnerships and facilitate investment in both countries, remarks that echoed those expressed, in the same context, by Niger’s Minister of Trade and Industry.
The forum, hosted by the Center for Export Promotion, brought together official delegations and businesspeople from both countries, which “demonstrates Niger’s interest in strengthening economic and commercial relations with our country, as well as the common will to elevate cooperation and partnership ties to a higher level, in line with the aspirations of both peoples,” according to the minister.
It should be recalled that Niger’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Abdoulaye Saïdou, is on an official visit to Tunisia at the head of an official delegation and a business delegation from his country, a visit that continues until April 4, 2026.
According to the Ministry of Trade, this visit falls within the framework of implementing Tunisia’s strategy of turning toward Africa, strengthening economic and commercial relations with African countries, and supporting the presence of Tunisian products and services on African markets.
The visit aims to examine and assess the state of economic and commercial relations between Tunisia and Niger, as well as to discuss the prospects for their development and the increase in the volume of bilateral trade, while exploiting opportunities still untapped for products and services on the two markets, within the framework of available legal instruments, in particular the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
