Seventh edition of crafts and traditional dress fair opens

The 7th edition of the crafts and traditional dress fair, which will be held in the premises of the Fair Nabeul from February 16 to 25, with the participation of 72 exhibitors operating in several sectors including traditional dress, embroidery, pottery, wood engraving was inaugurated Saturday by the Ministers of Tourism and Trade and Export Development. Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Moez Belhassine, said in a statement to TAP this fair is a new opportunity for the promotion and marketing of handicrafts. He reiterated the government's interest in the handicraft sector, given its importance as one of the pillars of the national economy. He also stressed the need to ensure better coordination between the two Ministries of Tourism and Trade in order to boost exports of handicrafts, especially to promising markets such as North America and various European countries. Belhassine expressed the hope of tripling by 2024 the turnover of the craft sector, which reached 160 million dinars last years. He also pointed out that the two ministries (tourism and trade) are working to protect the national craft industry from counterfeiting and unfair competition by drawing up a joint work programme to monitor the marketing channels for this type of product and launch a programme to register 60 Tunisian craft products so that they can be legally protected both at home and abroad. Minister of Trade and Export Development, Kalthoum Ben Rejab, pointed out that the State has allocated a budget of around 5 million Tunisian dinars as part of the "Easy Export" programme to help craftsmen find new markets abroad, specifying that the State will cover 50% of the transport costs of items exported under this initiative. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse