(Ecofin Agency) - French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot-Citroën announced in statement dated November 29, 2016, it will build in Tunisia a car assembly unit to serve the local market.

“PSA and its Tunisian partner Stafim signed a letter of intention to assemble and sell in Tunisia a Peugeot pick-up model. The project will start mid-2018 with an annual production capacity of 1,200 units to meet the demand of Tunisian market,” the car-maker said in its statement.

The letter of intention was signed at the Tunisia 2020 international investment conference recently held in Tunis and which regrouped many world leaders, such as France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

PSA’s decision to enter the Tunisian market falls under its expansion strategy in the Africa-Middle East region where it aims to sell one million cars by 2025.

It should be highlighted that PSA also plans to open in 2019 a plant in Kénitra, Morocco, which will have an initial capacity of 90,000 units per year. Meanwhile, it is in talks with Algeria over a project for another plant which will serve the country. Let’s recall that the group also recently started assembling cars in Ethiopia and Nigeria.