Hauptinhalt
Tunisia
Last updated in April 2012
Political relations
Germany has good and close relations with Tunisia. The German Federal Government has supported Tunisia’s democratization process since the 14 January 2011 revolution. Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle visited Tunisia soon afterwards, on 12 February 2011, the first high-ranking foreign official to do so following the political upheaval. On 4 July 2011, the two countries’ foreign ministers reached agreement in Berlin on a ‘transformation dialogue’ providing for close coordination on projects conducted with German assistance. These measures focus on promoting youth employment and setting up a modern vocational training system in Tunisia. During Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle’s visit to Tunis on 8 and 9 January 2012, the two foreign ministers signed, among other things, a joint declaration of intent to strengthen the two countries’ transformation partnership and establish an energy partnership. Tunisian Prime Minister Jebali was in Berlin in mid-March 2012 for talks with Federal Chancellor Merkel.
Contacts at government level are underpinned by ever closer dialogue between German and Tunisian parliamentarians.
Economic relations
Germany is Tunisia’s third-largest trading partner. Around 40 per cent of Tunisian imports from Germany and 80 per cent of Tunisian exports to Germany come from companies with German holdings in Tunisia as well as Tunisian contract processors.
Germany is the fourth-largest foreign investor in Tunisia. The 265 largely export-oriented companies with German shareholders invested EUR 45 million in 2008 alone and created a total of more than 43,000 jobs. They are largely exempt from tax.
Bilateral trade figures: Exports to Tunisia in 2010: EUR 1.61 billion; Imports from Tunisia in 2010: EUR 1.38 billion.
The main German exports to Tunisia are textiles (primary products), electronic goods, machinery, motor vehicles, chemical products, food industry products as well as iron and iron goods. The principal German imports from Tunisia are finished textile products, electrical goods, leather goods, crude oil, food industry products, fuels, lubricating oil and carpets.
Tunisia is Germany’s most important export partner among the Maghreb countries.
In 2001, 935,000 German tourists visited Tunisia. Owing to the stagnating world economy as well as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the US and the attack on Djerba on 11 April 2002, the number of German and other European visitors to Tunisia declined sharply. The number of German tourists long stood at about half a million (2007: approximately 540,000). However, the revolution in early 2011 caused a sharp slump in the tourist industry, with an approximately 50 per cent decline in the number of visitors.
Remittances from Tunisians living and working abroad are an important economic factor for Tunisia. Some 40,000 Tunisians live and work in Germany, and Tunisian estimates put their remittances at more than EUR 50 million annually.
The German Federal Government has concluded a number of economic agreements with Tunisia: on investment protection (1966), shipping (1966/1997), air transport (1968), legal protection (1968), double taxation (1975; a new agreement is under negotiation), road and freight transport (1984) and social insurance (1984).
Development cooperation
Along with France and Italy, Germany is one of Tunisia’s major bilateral development partners. German-Tunisian development cooperation has traditionally focused on environmental protection (wastewater treatment, refuse disposal and recycling, renewable energy and water management) as well as on modernizing the Tunisian economy in preparation for the customs union with the EU.
Since cooperation began, commitments in bilateral development cooperation have amounted to EUR 1.5 billion. EUR 37.5 million was pledged for 2010. In the coming years, additional funding is to be made available as part of Germany’s transformation partnership with Tunisia, in particular to promote democratization and civil society, economic growth, employment, culture and education..
Cultural relations
Central elements of German-Tunisian cultural cooperation are the scholarships offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as well as German language courses and cultural events to promote intercultural dialogue. Tunisia also participates in the Federal Foreign Office’s “Schools: Partners for the Future” initiative, with five partner schools having been selected. German Culture Weeks are being held in Tunisia in 2010. The Goethe Institute in Tunis is the leading sponsor of cultural cooperation.
The Rome branch of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) has earned great respect over the past 25 years for its excavations (at Carthage and Chimtou). Since 2000, finds from the Mahdia shipwreck, restored with German funding, have been on display at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. In September 2011, the DAI signed new agreements with Tunisia's Ministry of Culture on the continuation of archaeological cooperation.
In autumn 1989, Spanish, Italian and German were introduced at Tunisian secondary schools as third (optional) foreign languages. Since then, the numbers of both learners and teachers of German have nearly doubled. Since June 1992, Radio Tunis International has broadcast a daily half-hour programme in German. Germany’s foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle contributes to the range of programmes available.