By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea and Tunisia will establish joint groups to explore the possibility of bilateral economic cooperation and come up with action plans in the near future, the North African nation's top economic policymaker said.
Mohamed Nouri Jouini, 46, Tunisian minister of development and international cooperation, expressed hope that more South Korean firms will invest and do businesses in his country, which he stressed offers a ``stable'' business environment.
``Strengthening cooperation with South Korea is very important for us,'' Jouini said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul last Friday.
The minister made a visit to South Korea last week to attend a biennial ministerial meeting, called the Korea Africa Cooperation Conference (KOAFEC), from Oct. 27 to 30 in Seoul. On the sidelines of the conference, he met with high-profile South Korean government officials, including Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, and representatives of large South Korean businesses, to discuss closer cooperation.
``We discussed consolidating cooperation in the financial and technology sectors, as well as a number of projects financed by Korean agencies, and how to increase this number,'' he said. ``We agreed that possibilities for cooperation are great and on the need to identify those possibilities.''
Jouini added the two governments agreed to create joint groups to deepen discussions and come up with action plans.
The minister said his government, in particular, wants to share in Korea's IT and science technology.
`` We also talked with the Korean government and private companies about how to consolidate scientific and technological cooperation,'' he said, referring to a memorandum of understanding signed last week by the two governments on cooperation in ``e-procurement,'' the business-to-business purchase and sale of supplies and services over the Internet.
Tunisia is known to have the best information and technology infrastructure in Africa.
The auto parts and aerospace industries, along with the services sector, are the South Korean companies that interest Jouini most.
``The quality of our infrastructure and above all our skilled human resources are all factors to encourage Korean investors to come and invest in Tunisia,'' Jouini continued. ``The Tunisian government is also heavily investing in technology and we are converging our business legislation to European standards. We are also adopting in a continuous manner other international standards.''
``The most important thing is that in Tunisia, companies are quite safe about their businesses. They can have predictability. The country is stable politically and economically. This explains that despite the financial crisis and the slowdown of the global economy, there are still companies coming from all over the world to Tunisia where they can make profits,'' he said.
Tunisia is ranked by the world economics forum of Davos as first in Africa and 35th in the world, out of more than 130 countries in terms of economic competitiveness.
The country initiated an economic reform program in 1987 and has succeeded in implementing reform plans over the last 20 years. As a result, Tunisia now has economic growth of more than 5%, according to the Tunisian Embassy in Seoul.
The poverty rate is less than 4% and the middle class accounts for 80% of the population. All young people go to school and 50% graduate from university, it said.