GCC calls for establishing holding firm to fetch investment in Tunisia

A GCC official on Monday called for establishing a GCC-Tunisian holding company to fetch investment opportunities in Tunisia. "GCC-Tunisian relations are distinguished and deep-rooted. However, economic relations do not live sought after ambitions, with a trade volume of USD 500 million ... a meek figure that absolutely does not keep up with investment ventures in Tunisia," said Abdulraheem Hassan Naqi, secretary general of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Gulf Cooperation Council. His remarks came in a speech on the outset of the Tunisian-GCC forum, which kicked off earlier today with the attendance of head of the Tunisian Union for Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts Widad Bouchammaoui and Minister of Economy and Finance Hakim Ben Hammouda. Among the attendees was Tunisian Central Bank Governor Chadli Ayari, GCC ambassadors in Tunis, including Kuwait's Fahad Al-Awadhi, in addition to a host of Tunisna and GCC businessmen and representatives of regional and international financial institutions. "There is consensus that Tunisia's strategic location, diverse potentials and practical legislations makes it an investments-attracting destination, especially for GCC and Arab investors," Naqi noted. On her part, Bouchammaoui called for "focusing on our mutual interests as a sturdy bond for our relation." An agreement on bilateral cooperation and exchange of annual programs was signed between the GCC's Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Tunisian Union for Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts on the sidelines of the forum. The two-day forum is bound to discuss GCC-Tunisian investment cooperation, as well as diagnosing financial, administrative and legislative obstacles facing investors, as well as discussing proposals and solutions of these challenges