Tunis — The 4th "Tunis-Med Franchise" Exhibition was inaugurated, Wednesday in the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) in Tunis, by outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.

About 40 exhibitors and foreign businessmen delegation from the United States, Indonesia and France will take part in this three-day event.

In his inauguration speech, Mr. Jebali underlined that franchise could reduce the risk of foreign investors' departure from the country, indicating that this departure will often lead to the loss of direct and indirect jobs.

He said that the concerned administrative management is studying the liberalisation of using trademarks in areas that have high demand in addition to the examination of the economic and legal aspects to preserve the interest of the franchisor and the franchisee.

In fact, franchise is an activity which helps a physical or a moral person called franchisee, to exploit by virtue of a contract with the owner of the trademark and branding and proceed to the distribution of products or supplying services for a fee.

According to Mr. Jebali, franchise allows a transfer of technology and expertise in different fields and contributes to the increase of Foreign Direct Investments by means of settling foreign enterprises in Tunisia.

Besides, he evoked that the legal framework ruling franchise in Tunisia needs to be developed to diversify offer and achieve trade dynamics in the country.

The benchmarking experiences concerning the franchise showed that despite the fear of bankruptcy which hits 80% of the small enterprises during the first two years of their creation, 90% of franchisee enterprises resist and face this risk.