Italian investments in Tunisia are progressing, a sign of an increasingly deep industrial base
In the first half of 2026 grew by 19.4% to around 57 million euros
AGI - Italian investments in Tunisia increased by 19.4% in the first half of 2026, confirming a trend which now goes beyond the sole dynamic of trade. According to data from the Tunisia Investment Authority (TIA), they reached 190.38 million dinars, or approximately 57 million euros, compared to 159.44 million dinars a year earlier.
Italy ranks fourth among foreign investors in Tunisia
These new investments contributed to the creation of more than 2,347 jobs. Italy thus ranks fourth among foreign investors in Tunisia, behind France, Portugal and Germany. But this classification only imperfectly reflects the real weight of the Italian presence in the Tunisian productive fabric.
More than 1,000 Italian companies were active in the country in 2025, representing more than a quarter of foreign-invested companies and directly employing more than 85,000 people. This establishment has gradually transformed into a real industrial ecosystem. It remains particularly dense in Greater Tunis and on the coast, but also extends to certain inland regions.
Textiles and clothing, but also mechanics and electrical and electronic equipment
Textiles and clothing remain historic sectors, to which mechanics, electrical and electronic equipment, automobile components, construction materials, agri-food, pharmaceuticals, transport and energy have been added over the years.
What distinguishes the Italian-Tunisian economic relationship today is precisely this degree of integration. Many Italian companies no longer consider Tunisia as a simple export market, but as a production base inserted in trans-Mediterranean value chains, with local suppliers, Tunisian skills and industrial flows closely connected to Europe.
Considerable trade, around 3.39 billion euros in the first half
Trade nevertheless remains considerable. In the first half of 2026, they reached 11.427 billion dinars, approximately 3.39 billion euros. Tunisia has also become the leading African market for Italian exports. Over the whole of 2025, bilateral trade was around 6.5 billion euros, including 3.4 billion in Italian exports and 3.1 billion in imports from Tunisia.
Italy's progress is part of a more general context of improving investment flows to the country. International investments reached 1.929 billion dinars, approximately 580 million euros, at the end of the first half of the year, up 11.5% year-on-year, 41.7% compared to 2024 and 58.8% compared to 2023. The next steps should take place in sectors with higher added value.
The Italy-Tunisia Economic Forum
Renewable energies, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, digital, infrastructure and logistics are among the areas identified as priorities. They were already at the heart of the Italy-Tunisia Economic Forum organized in Tunis in June, which brought together around 200 Italian representatives and nearly 400 Tunisian participants around B2B meetings and sessions devoted in particular to the energy and digital transition, advanced industry, critical raw materials and transport.
The economic relationship between Rome and Tunis thus appears less and less as a simple exchange between two neighboring markets. It is now based on an Italian productive presence deeply rooted in Tunisia and on increasingly integrated industrial chains between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
