The Maghreb countries are not part of the “heart land” (Core countries) that have been defined by the receipt of the economy over a billion dollars FDI per year. The challenge is not only to be on the short list, but also to stay there.

In one hand, conditions deemed necessary to fulfill the attractiveness were the opening to the world economy and the signing of the Free Trade agreement. These conditions have been met, but still insufficient. It should be noted that the boundary between the heart and other countries is not fixed, but is in constant motion.

On the other hand, choosing the right country is rarely justified. The choice of European countries, for example, has not been based on good host countries for specific industries, but because they have adopted protectionist resources and limitations to trade. The total retention of key technological nature of production and international marketing measures seem to be the most important clause. More competition is globalizing, the more the company is responsible for choosing the host country for each of its activities.

The costs of inputs, and tax benefits are more important determinants of FDI attraction, the existing production capacity, the behavior of a favorable production complex and scalable production are the new determinants of FDI (Bellon, 1997 ). Industrial policies thus become the heart of a dynamic economy and its attractiveness to FDI.

FDI is more mobile than domestic investment because of state institutional measures. Investments in energy and agriculture are essentially fixed or predictable in terms of geography. Even in the most difficult situations, MNC can stay to exploit a shortage or speculation, or is “in door” because of heavy investment already committed an anticipation of improving political and economic conditions could anticipate.

In more concrete terms, the location of FDI in textiles at Tunisia is based on the relatively low cost of labor unskilled and often female, the stability of the domestic economic and political conditions Geographic a country close to the European Union while the priorities of the European MNC were based during the 1990s on the capitalization of technological capabilities, implementation of networks at levels of solvent markets and cost control factors. These objectives respond to a market-demand approach. Where the gap between FDI in Tunisia and strategies of European MNCs. The attraction of FDI based only on the costs of factors of production policy has the disadvantage of dependence on capital, technology and markets of countries of origin …

In addition, FDI promotion strategy is based in Tunisia on :

1. The stabilization of the macro-economic balances;
2. The partnership between European companies (mostly French) and Tunisian companies in the local market;
3. The establishment of offshore companies totally export-oriented and unrelated to the local economy, and
4. The implementation of trans-European companies, more than MNCs with global strategy.

This strategy has evolved since the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union in 1995th and is further based on the incentive companies “offshore” to become “on-shore”, the acceleration the creation, restructuring of the industrial companies and public sector restructuring.

Ultimately, the strategic importance of the Tunisian policy on FDI attractiveness is determined by:

1. The importance the authorities attach to FDI policy in the industrialization and economic development;
2. New restrictions on international investment, and
3. of changes in the international environment.