A Strategic Digital Bridge
- Tunisia can be an attractive ICT nearshoring destination for Dutch companies because of its geographic and time-zone proximity, strong digital infrastructure, and highly skilled talent pool.
- Tunisian bureaucracy, limited Dutch business presence, and limitations in EU-aligned data protection and professional mobility can create barriers to entry.
- The Dutch government can support nearshoring by connecting companies with local partners, promoting data-protection reforms, and facilitating remote-worker mobility.
- Tunisia’s favourable climate, competitive costs, land, transport links, and government support offer export opportunities, provided companies address water scarcity, administrative delays, and labour challenges.
This report is the third country study in Clingendael’s series on nearshoring to migration relevant countries for the Netherlands. The series argues that nearshoring can serve as a constructive addition to the cooperation framework with these countries. Following earlier studies on Egypt and Nigeria, this report evaluates Tunisia’s potential for a strategic nearshoring partnership with the Netherlands, focusing on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, with an exploratory addendum on agriculture. Alongside established destinations, such as Eastern Europe or India, this study shows that Tunisia can be an attractive additional nearshoring destination that could help to alleviate staffing shortages faced by Dutch companies.
Based on 44 semi-structured interviews with public and private stakeholders, the study identifies structural advantages in Tunisia, as well as specific operational roadblocks that require mitigation. Tunisia’s potential is anchored in its geographic and economic proximity, shared time zones, and highly skilled labour pool. The IT market is mature, with strong foreign participation, especially from German and French firms, and offers European-standard quality at roughly one-third of European salary levels. The higher education system is well developed and collaborates with the private sector to produce a large annual pool of tech graduates with increasing English proficiency. While these foundational strengths make Tunisia a highly viable nearshoring destination, Dutch market entry is currently constrained by a lack of market familiarity, regulatory friction regarding GDPR alignment, and a local bureaucracy that is difficult to navigate. While these barriers are notable, specialised intermediary organisations can help companies to navigate the local market, and targeted support from the Dutch government could also lower entry barriers.
More publications in this series