Russian, Tunisian business to discuss deeper investment partnership - envoy

MOSCOW, March 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russian and Tunisian business circles will hold a forum on May 19-20 to discuss prospects for stronger investment cooperation, says Ali Gutali, Tunisian ambassador in Moscow. “We are preparing for a meeting of the Business Council that will take place in Tunisia,” he said on Wednesday. “We expect a representative delegation of Russian business people, who will be able to study Tunisia’s investment opportunities. We hope that within the upcoming years cooperation between our countries will enhance. Nevertheless, we are developing a whole range of measures to encourage investments.” The ambassador called tourism as the most important area of cooperation. Khaled Trabelsi, director-general of Tunisia’s tourism agency, who is visiting Moscow to take part in the ongoing international tourism exhibition Inturmarket, supported his opinion. “We have already been developing the tourism industry for 50 years,” he said. “We have injected strong investments, built hotels and improved beaches. Moreover, Tunisia can be easily called a museum under the open skies.” “In 2013 over 300,000 Russian tourists visited Tunisia,” Trabelsi said, adding that this year Tunisia around 7 million tourists from all over the world. “We hope that the number of Russian guests will grow and we are ready to offer them alternative programmes, in particular health resorts, we also expand sightseeing programmes.”