Over the last four decades, Tunisia’s national export trade promotion agency – Centre de Promotion des Exportations (CEPEX) – has cemented its position as one of the most effective and best-known trade promotion organizations (TPOs) in the Middle East and North Africa region. Before ITC created CEPEX in 1973, Tunisian companies rarely initiated exports.
CEPEX’s greatest accomplishment is the introduction of a practical and proactive approach to exports, according to a former executive of the TPO.
‘From a dependent situation where foreign buyers were the main exporting actors, CEPEX [created] a shift through an effective commercial strategy, by supporting exporters to sell abroad and by leading them to new markets and providing useful market information and export skills development,’ says Abdelkrim Ben Fadhl, CEPEX’s founding Secretary General, 1974–1977. Ben Fadhl is now a consultant with an ITC project in Tunisia.
In the beginning, CEPEX worked with a modest budget and reached out to an estimated 100 entrepreneurs. CEPEX currently has an annual budget of EUR 1.5 million and supports more than 1,000 enterprises.
CEPEX has also been instrumental in negotiating trade agreements, including the first trade agreement with the European Union in 1974. Today, more than three-quarters of Tunisia’s trade is with the European Union. CEPEX has also organized trade missions to new markets such as the Gulf States, Egypt and Morocco.
CEPEX Deputy Director General Riadh Attia attributes the TPO’s success to a gradual and rational expansion of support tools and consistent, close cooperation with the government. ‘[It took] a dedicated team, a close relationship with the export administration and a diversification of services and support offered to Tunisian exporters,’ he says.
Creating an effective commercial strategy
In the early days, CEPEX focused on facilitating the export of traditional products, including canned tomatoes; fish; harissa; olive oil; preserves including pickles, capers and olives; and fresh fruit and vegetables. At that time, Tunisian companies were facing a multitude of challenges, including the lack of information about potential foreign markets and export opportunities. Inadequate packaging also posed a problem. High prices and tariffs in the EU market were also an obstacle.
Ben Fadhl recalls that other than goods traditionally sold abroad, foreign importers travelled to Tunisia to collect merchandise from local traders. The merchandise was then shipped out by foreign freight forwarding companies.
CEPEX was instrumental in turning this situation around. Introducing packaging standards and selecting export goods were important steps, says Khaled Doghri, who worked at CEPEX until the end of the seventies. Setting up an innovative team of creators and designers to assist textile exporters helped create new export products and eventually led to the development of the Tunisian design profession, he adds.
From market information to capacity building
This marks a notable shift from the early days when CEPEX focused on providing market-related support such as surveys and information. ‘In the beginning, the emphasis was on market exploration. Afterwards, we developed information and training-related activities and targeted support, such as FAMEX and Primo Export,’ Attia explains.
‘The scope of assistance has been largely diversified,’ adds Ben Fadhl. ‘It became much more sophisticated. [There is] financial support for promotional activities, such as market prospection and trade missions, participation at fairs and exhibitions, commercial representation abroad, product development and transport of goods to new markets.’
The government’s backing was instrumental in CEPEX’s success. Since the late 1950s, Tunisia promoted trade through the Tunisian Trading Authority, the network of Maisons de Tunisie trading posts abroad and the national programme of participation at foreign trade fairs.
Small traders and agricultural companies, as well as fledgling industrial ventures, were encouraged to target external markets. Various state enterprises such as the Tunisian Handicrafts Authority and the Tunisian Authority for Olive Oil were also active abroad, explains Ben Fadhl, who also headed the first official trade information service created in 1968.
‘These export promotion actions were scattered and uncoordinated,’ he says. ‘CEPEX’s success came from its comprehensive and coordinated efforts, as well as from a more systematic export development strategy.’
Following a needs assessment in the early 1970s, ITC recommended the creation of a TPO. The Tunisian government welcomed the idea and decided to merge CEPEX and the recently established export consortium Protunisia, which represented 18 state companies and had planned to open trade representations abroad to boost exports.
The fact that the legal mandate came from the top level and the government appointed an influential political and economic player, Habib Bourguiba Jr., to head CEPEX also added weight to the organization, Ben Fadhl said.
CEPEX benefited from a technical assistance project implemented by ITC in 1974–1976, funded by the Swedish government. The project helped develop new products and teach export skills to young Tunisian executives. The project also helped to kick-start export promotion, Ben Fadhl says.
During the 1980s, ITC worked closely with the Ministry of Trade to develop strategies and effective support instruments for exporting SMEs. Since 1997, technical cooperation between ITC and Tunisia has been reinforced by ITC’s Joint Technical Assistance Programmes that promote trade as an engine for growth and alleviating poverty.
40 years later, CEPEX focuses on services exports
Today, Tunisian exporters are facing different challenges, and CEPEX’s focus has shifted to include a cross-section of the economy.
‘Certain enterprises need better preparation and qualifications before stepping out to the international market,’ says Attia. ‘All sectors are covered by CEPEX, but we attribute more importance to activities with strong added value, such as the service sector.’
CEPEX has two funds to promote and improve export strategies and the trade-related business environment. Fonds de Promotion des Exportations (FOPRODEX) provides support to enterprises involved in direct export promotion activities such as trade fairs, exhibitions and delegations. FAMEX, a joint programme of the World Bank and the Tunisian government, is a matching grant scheme to support Tunisian firms to develop new exports and reach new markets.
Ongoing CEPEX projects include implementing and managing Primo Export. Approved by the Tunisian government for 2012–2014, the programme offers customized support for an average period of 18 months to small and medium-sized enterprises planning to export their products.