Damascus, (SANA)- "Syria and Tunisia have strong typical ties based on genuine fraternity between the two peoples and continuous consultation between the two leaderships", Tunisian Ambassador to Syria Mohamed Awiti said on Saturday.

In an interview with SANA on the occasion of his country's National Day, the Ambassador added that relations between the two countries witnessed development inviting for optimism and satisfaction as demonstrated by the exchange of all forms of support and assistance at international forums and in their permanent activation of the Arab joint action.

He pointed out that the good political relations between the two countries have reflected positively on cooperation in all fields, especially in the trade area as the volume of trade exchange between the two sides in 2009 amounted to more than 37.682 million US dollars compared to 25.290 million US dollars in 2008, indicating that the volume of this exchange is likely to rise by virtue of the goodwill of the leaderships of the two countries and the substantive potentials available. 

On the agreements signed between the two countries, the Ambassador of Tunisia said there are more than 150 deals, executive programs and memos of understanding for cooperation which were signed between Tunisia and Syria, notably the agreement on Free Trade zone, the agreement on the protection and promotion of investments, an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, an industrial cooperation agreement and a memorandum of understanding in the field of aviation as well as the agreement on cooperation in the field of higher education.

Fadi Allafi .Idelbi