Tunis/Tunisia — The Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII) and the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) inked on Monday a funding agreement worth €800 thousand (2.584 million Tunisian dinars) to launch a new support programme for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The programme seeks to help these enterprises address the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release issued by the GIZ.

As part of this agreement, the GIZ provided the APII with a budget to be available from July 2020 till August 2022, to establish a fund to finance the expenses incurred by SMEs in the automotive and aeronautics sectors related to the new protection measures against COVID-19.

This funding agreement is part of the GIZ's "Job partnerships and promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises in Tunisia" project, which is part of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)'s Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation and implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.