Summary:

On 25 September 2024, Italian heating technology company, Zoppas Industries, launched its first production site in Tunisia in a further indication of the deepening economic ties between Tunisia and Italy. 

The production site is in Neopark Monastir, an industrial park near the city of Saheline. The site is expected to create over 1,000 jobs by 2025.  

Zoppas Industries is present in fifteen countries in Europe, America, and Asia but the new production site in Tunisia represents its first investment on the African continent. The launch of the new site came following direct actions by the Foreign Investments Promotion Agency (FIPA) Office in Milan, Italy. 

On the same day,  German automobile components company, Marquardt, launched a new production site at Neopark of El-Fejja in Manouba. The Ministry of Economy and Planning, Samir Abdelhafidh, and FIPA representatives attended the inauguration ceremony. 

The new Marquadt site marks the third investment by the German firm in Tunisia. The site aims to employ 1500 engineers, technicians, and production employees by the end of the decade. 

Marquardt has been present in Tunisia since 1991 and it is manufacturing mechatronic components for building and air conditioning technologies, cleaning equipment, vehicles, and industrial applications. 

Outlook: 

The new investments by Zoppas and Marquardt in Tunisia reflect Tunisia’s attractiveness to companies seeking to benefit from lower salaries by offshoring production to countries like Tunisia.  

The investments also highlight the growing economic ties between Tunisia and German and Italian investors, which were underscored during speeches by officials at the inauguration ceremonies for the sites.  

While the investments will support job creation which should lower the unemployment rate, the administration is still struggling to attract investments to Tunisia’s interior regions. Investors continue to prefer to establish their sites in Tunisia’s coastal cities where infrastructure is more developed and export is more streamlined. 

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