Italian Cuisine Week 2025 kicks off

From today until Sunday, November 23, Tunisia is hosting the tenth edition of the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World, organized by the Italian Embassy in Tunis in collaboration with the Italian System. Promoted under the theme “Italian Cuisine: Health, Culture, and Innovation,” the event offers a packed program of events aimed at showcasing Italy’s agri-food heritage and strengthening culinary dialogue between Italy and Tunisia. Agri-food trade between the two countries is expected to continue growing in 2025. Collaboration with Tunisia, a country that shares the Mediterranean diet, is strategic for both parties, allowing them to consolidate their position on the global market and promote a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. The Italian agri-food sector, which generates over €600 billion annually and employs millions of people, is not limited to the production of quality products, but also constantly invests in research and innovation, exporting technology, know-how, and food and wine creativity worldwide.

In 2025, the Italian agri-food sector will remain one of the pillars of the national economy, recording 0,7 percent GDP growth in the first quarter and an overall value of the supply chain estimated at €75 billion, according to data from the Italian Revenue Agency. Exports continue to be driven by the sector, with foreign sales reaching €67,5 billion in 2024 and expected to increase further in 2025, representing nearly 11 percent of Italian exports. Italy is also consolidating its leadership in certified products, with over 880 PDO, PGI, and TSG products, and a wine sector generating €14 billion in revenue and €8,1 billion in exports. Organic production is also growing, involving more than 92 companies and covering nearly a fifth of the national agricultural area, while investments in agri-food innovation and technology exceed €350 million, confirming the sector’s dynamism.

The aggregate agri-food sector, which includes agriculture, industry, distribution, and food service, is structured into a production and service supply chain that generates over €600 billion in revenue in Italy and contributes approximately 32 percent of GDP, thanks to the work of 1,3 million businesses and more than 3,6 million employees. The Italian agri-food value chain is not only characterized by the excellence of its food products, but also by manufacturing technology (the leading sector of the Italian manufacturing sector), leadership in the production of processing and packaging equipment, logistics capacity, and, last but not least, patents and innovations exported worldwide.

Italy is the leading importer of Tunisian seafood, accounting for 31 percent of Tunisian marine fishing and aquaculture exports. In the first five months of 2025, Tunisian exports reached 267,3 million dinars (approximately €78,6 million), despite a decline in both quantity and value compared to the same period in 2024. At the same time, agricultural and agro-industrial trade between the two countries is intensifying: in the first nine months of 2024, Italian agro-industrial exports to Tunisia exceeded €1,1 billion, a 17,4 percent increase over the previous year. Italy maintains a dominant position in the supply of agricultural machinery, with a 30,5 percent market share. Furthermore, cooperation is also developing on the investment side: in February 2025, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Tunisian Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investments (APIA) signed a protocol to support sustainable, organic, and technological (agritech) agricultural projects in the North African country.

The principles of the Mediterranean diet, now a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, focus on people’s well-being and health, with quality products and high food safety standards. In this context, Italy and Tunisia remain united in promoting the Mediterranean diet, which also involves close industrial collaboration. Italy is among the top suppliers to the European Union (EU) in trade in the agri-food sector, with a 4,2 percent market share. Italy is also among the main investors in the North African country’s agri-food sector, with dozens of high-profile companies providing employment to thousands of workers. This collaboration is set to grow even further in the future thanks to the Mattei Plan, which identifies Tunisia as a priority country and agriculture as one of the main sectors of intervention.