Speaking to Tunisian media last Tuesday (14 April), Mohamed Habib Sassi, Chargé d’affaires a.i. at the Embassy of Tunisia in Tripoli highlighted the strategic importance of the Ras Jedir crossing, as a pivotal crossing point as a transit corridor for transit towards the depth of landlocked Africa.
Sassi added that the transformation of Libya’s Ras Jedir border crossing, the main land crossing between the two states, into a continental crossing is taking place within the framework of cooperation with regional structures, such as the Common Market Organization for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF), in a way that enhances the economic integration between Tunisia, Libya and Algeria and supports the openness to African markets.
He reviewed the specificity of Tunisian-Libyan relations and the diversity and development they are witnessing in the fields of cooperation, embodied by continuous diplomatic mobility, pointing to the active and remarkable presence of the Tunisian community, which numbers about 45,000 residents, including about 2,500 dual nationals, distributed in various vital sectors, such as banking, engineering, insurance and petroleum services.
He recalled the recent visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Tripoli on April 10 and 11, which represented an important milestone that contributed to pushing joint cooperation to higher levels, as it was characterized by a series of intensive meetings and activities, including a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, and a meeting with his Libyan counterpart, Taher Al-Baour, in addition to an interactive session with members of the Tunisian community residing in Tripoli.
On the economic front, the Chargé d’affaires reviewed Tunisia’s participation in the “Libya Food” exhibition, which was hosted in Libya from March 29 to April 1, 2026, which received wide attention from professionals in the sector, and this participation represented an important opportunity to enhance the presence of Tunisian products and open new channels of communication with Libyan economic actors, in order to support trade exchange between the two countries.
He also stressed the need to value the outcomes of this event and turn them into practical projects, calling for more diversification of Tunisian participation in economic events, especially in the Maghreb and African spaces.
It is noteworthy that the Minister of Trade and Export Development, Samir Obeid, announced on April 1 that Tunisia has started preparing the project of the continental land crossing in coordination with the Libyan side, and this strategic project will start from the Ras Jedir border crossing to reach the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, mainly targeting Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic.
During his supervision of the activities of the Forum of Business Owners in the two countries, the Minister of Trade and Industry of the State of Niger, Abdoulaye Saidou, stressed that this project will contribute to the pressure on the cost and duration of export operations, alleviate the difficulties related to transport and logistics, and will contribute to achieving African integration.
