A reference database and a dashboard for the Tunisian automotive and aerospace sectors were launched on Friday in Tunis, with the aim of giving these sectors greater visibility and attracting more foreign and local investors.

The database contains a list of companies, their addresses, their websites and their activities, while the dashboard summarises the main results of the survey carried out among manufacturers (general data, distribution of companies and jobs by governorate ....).

According to these documents, 195 companies are active in the automotive sector and 40 in the aerospace sector, of which 90% are certified and 10% are in the process of being certified.

The regional breakdown shows that 30% of aerospace companies are located in Ben Arous, 30% in Sousse, 10% in Nabeul and 30% in other regions.

In the automotive sector, these enterprises are located in Nabeul (18%), Ben Arous (15%), Sousse (14%), Bizerte (9%), Tunis (9%), Zaghouan (9%) and other governorates (26%).

The main activities of companies operating in the automotive sector are parts and components (77%), modular systems (16%) and integration of systems and assemblies (4%), while in the aerospace sector, companies are also active in parts and components (85%) and modular systems (13%).

The data show that more than 80% of the enterprises active in both sectors have a turnover of more than EUR 500,000. In addition, 15% of aerospace enterprises and 25% of automotive enterprises claim to invest more than 5% of their turnover in research and development (R and D).

Regarding the type of waste, the automotive sector tends to produce plastic waste (75%), while aerospace waste is generally metallic (90%).

In terms of waste recovery, the survey found that 74% of automotive companies and 67% of aerospace companies recover only 24% of their waste locally, with most of the rest being re-exported. According to the same data, 20% of aerospace companies and 40% of automotive enterprises have information on their carbon footprint.

A decisive step that must be constantly updated

President of the Tunisian Automotive Association (TAA), Nabhen Bouchaala, said the launch of these documents is a decisive step that will promote a complete and transparent vision of these two sectors, enabling reliable and clear information to be presented to Tunisia's partners.

For his part, Islem ben Mbarek, vice-chairman of GITAS, highlighted the lack of visibility and image of the automotive and aerospace sectors, though companies in these sectors have continued to grow despite the COVID-19 crisis. He also highlighted the opportunities offered by the aerospace sector for Tunisia, pointing out that the supply chain is being reorganised worldwide in the wake of the pandemic and that Tunisia, which has the necessary assets, must take advantage of this.

Need to speed up signing of sectoral pacts

Hichem Elloumi, vice-president of UTICA, stressed the need to implement the competitiveness pact for the automotive sector, signed in July 2022, and to speed up the signing of the aerospace pact, which is practically ready. "Elloumi pointed out that Tunisia has carried out too many studies, although not all of them have been implemented, unlike competing countries that carry out few studies but implement them on the ground.

In this context, he called for priorities to be set, citing the investment law and the foreign exchange code.

For his part, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Samir Saied, pointed out that the development of the dashboard is part of the measures to revive the national economy and the sectoral competitiveness pacts.

The aim is to "stimulate the development of investment projects in the sector, increase the integration rate from 40% to 48% and create jobs in addition to the 80,000 that already exist".

He also pointed out that the Tunisian aeronautical components industry has the potential to move up the value chain and position itself in new niches with higher added value: technical activities for plastic components, surface treatment, sheet metal work, software development, 3D part modelling and software test automation.

These documents were prepared by the Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII), in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Tunisian Automotive Association (TAA) and the Groupement des Industries Tunisiennes Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GITAS).

They are part of the special initiative "Decent Work for a Just Transition" under the project 'Job partnerships and SME promotion in Tunisia II,' commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Tunisia.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse