Tunisian Ambassador Salah Hannachi said March 13 that Japanese businesses will find the North African country an efficient regional industrial platform on which to support operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Tunisia's free-trade-zone agreement with the European Union, signed in 1995, went into effect two weeks ago, and foreign firms investing in the country will benefit from this and other trade arrangements with its neighbors, Hannachi told The Japan Times.

Located on the shores of the Mediterranean at the crossroads of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Tunisia is an industrial country. Manufactured goods ranging from components and telecommunications to consumer goods account for 74 percent of its total exports, the envoy said.

Tunisia supplies highly competitive components to German, French and other European automakers, according to the scholar-turned-diplomat. As an economic superpower, Japan is expected to increase its economic presence in various regions and contribute to the global community with its economic, technological and scientific prowess, he said. Its role in global economic development, environmental protection and international cooperation for peace is particularly important, he emphasized.

Expressing hope that Japan will stay interested in Africa, he welcomed Japan's hosting of the second Tokyo International Conference on African Development, slated for October.

Asked for reasons behind Tunisia's political, economic and social stability, Hannachi cited its policies of investing mostly in education, promoting the well-being of women, and encouraging housing ownership. Of Tunisia's population, 60 percent belong to the middle class, and 80 percent of all households own their homes, he added.