Tunis — "The French enterprises implanted in Tunisia are determined to stay and vitalise their activity", said Mr. Jean François Roubaud, Chairman of the General Confederation of Small-and Medium Sized Enterprises in France (CGPME).

After his talk, Wednesday, with Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, the French official said that "this is not because there are few demonstrators in a country that investment be blocked", before adding that "we need to import other French enterprises in Tunisia."

Mr. Roubaud said to TAP news agency, that his visit in Tunisia aimed to develop the B to B business relations between the Tunisian and the French SMEs, favour exchange of visits between the Tunisian firms and their French counterparts and establish a win-win partnership between the two countries.

He said that Tunisia, given its strategic location, constitutes for France an access gate to the different markets of the Mediterranean basin underlining that "Tunisia is undoubtedly the most open country in the region where an extraordinary democracy is being drawn."

Mr. Roubaud underlined interest to develop partnership between the Tunisian and French SMEs, notably, in the sectors of ICTs, mechanical-electronic, innovation and food industry.

"Planet SME 2012," an annual event for the SMEs economy, which is due on June 28, 2012, in Paris, will be an occasion, he said, for the Tunisian enterprises and their French counterparts, to identify business and investment opportunities offered for the two countries. The talk was attended by the President of the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) and France's Ambassador in Tunis.