The head of the local authority in the Tunisian city of Ben Guerdane, Fathi Al-Aabab, said that the merchants in the city were pleased with the reopening of the border crossings between Libya and Tunisia, indicating that this decision re-injects blood into a vital economic artery for the entire south of Tunisia.
In statements to “Al Arabi Al jadid”, Al-Abaab stressed that the reopening of the border gates makes it easy for merchants in the region and revitalizes the commercial movement, whose impact extends to all the country’s provinces.
According to official reports of the Tunisian Statistics Institute, the value of Tunisian exports to the Libyan market amounted to about 611 million Tunisian dinars, compared to imports estimated at 111 million dinars during the first six months of this year, while exports reached 755 million dinars during the same period last year.
Statistics also indicate that Tunisia, despite all its security concerns, cannot afford to close its borders with Libya because this undermines its economy, which in turn leads to social unrest.
It is worth noting that Libya and Tunisia announced, last Friday, the reopening of the land border crossings and the resumption of flights after an eight-month closure due to the Corona pandemic, after the signing of a health protocol between the two countries.
