"E-Commerce is a true complement to traditional trade, especially for the development of exports, improvement of visibility of Tunisian firms on the international platform of E-Commerce and boosting their competitiveness on the national and international levels," Minister of Trade and Handicrafts Najla Harrouche said.
At the closure of the seminar on E-Commerce, incentive to support enterprise competitiveness," organised in Tunis at the initiative of the Tunis Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIT), The Minister underlined that means of securing payment is one of key obstacles to the development of E-Commerce in Tunisia.
Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Information and Communication Technologies Taoufik Jelassi voiced wish to see Tunisia becomes an electronic digital hub for the Maghreb, the Middle East and Africa and not only a tourist destination.
In this connection, he said the digital economy in Tunisia registered, in 2013, a growth rate of 14% and contributes by 7.6 % to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He added that Tunisia counts, today, more than 50,000 students in the ICTs branches and 11,000 graduates in information technology are jobless. He underlined that as of next May 30, a three-day seminar is due to be held in Korba to finalise the national strategy "Digital Tunisia 2018", initiated in June 2013 in Tabarka.
Several recommendations crowned this seminar, including mainly, the organisation of a cabinet meeting on E-Commerce and on the furtherance of incubators of online service projects and the establishment of the necessary logistics to electronic payment.
Experts, specialised in ICTs and business leaders participating in the seminar also recommended the multiplication of the distribution channels (Internet, Mobile, ATMà), the diversification of payment means and the adoption of a system of incentive on the level of sale price to attract more consumers.
They also recommended to boost structures in charge of E-Commerce development, in human resources and technical means to apply and follow action programmes, make the most of international co-operation with the friendly countries and the regional and international organisations to further develop the culture of E-Commerce among the Small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the consumers. The event was also an occasion to present the E-Business project presently under development whose launching is due before the end of the year.
"It is an Enterprise Social Networking which targets Tunisian exporters, foreign enterprises and the large public," said Maher Ben Sedrine, Head of E-Business project launched by CCIT with the financial support of the American government.
In turn, Faouzi El Mufti, World Bank expert presented Virtual Market Place (VMP) project for the development of exporting SMEs. "It is an innovative programme of technical and financial assistance targeting Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia," he said underlining that this project will start next May.
"The Objective of this project, funded in partnership with the World Bank, is to assist the beneficiary SMEs to overcome the geographical obstacles and give them tools (access to virtual markets and programmes of boosting capacities) they need to promote their services in a globalised international economy," he added underlining that the priority sectors for Tunisia are services, handicrafts and agribusiness.
