Tunisia and Libya have agreed to create a continental trade corridor that will connect the two countries to sub-Saharan Africa.
The two sides made the announcement on Friday at a joint ministerial meeting held at the headquarters of the Tunisian Ministry of Trade and Export Development.
They stressed the importance of rehabilitating and developing the Ras Jedir border crossing in accordance with international standards to become a commercial gateway to Africa and a means to achieve economic integration, especially with sub-Saharan African countries, and establishing an effective Tunisian-Libyan-African partnership.
The meeting was chaired by Tunisian Minister of Trade and Export Development Kalthoum Ben Rejeb and Libya's Minister of Economy and Trade Mohamed Al-Hwej.
Libya stressed its support to Tunisia to join the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
It was decided to form a rapid response team to address the obstacles at the Ras Jedir crossing and to establish a work group to reinforce cooperation in food and pharmaceutical security.
Memorandums of understanding were signed in the fields of organizing exhibitions and economic forums, integration between the free zone for commercial and logistical activities in Tunisia's Ben Guerdane and the economic free zone in Ras Jedir from the Libyan side.
The two countries look forward to having their trade reach $5 billion Tunisian dinars, which requires political and security stability in both countries. But some observers of the political developments in countries close to Libya see that the corridor project could face a number of challenges.
