HawKar Received the Energy Globe Award for the 2021 Edition

Indeed, the Energy Globe Award, a private Austrian initiative, has been awarded every year since 2000 to outstanding and sustainable projects in the fields of environment and energy. It is currently the largest environmental award in the world, with more than 180 participating countries. 2,000 to 3,000 projects are proposed each year. The prizes are awarded in 5 categories in the country and abroad: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Youth.

This award was presented, Tuesday, October 26, during a ceremony organized at the residence of the Austrian Ambassador in Gammarth (Northern suburbs of Tunis), in presence of the Director of the Austrian Economic Office in Tunisia, Sami Ben Ayed, and the Commercial Counselor of the Austrian Embassy. in Tunis, Franz Bachleitner. The “Energy Globe Award” was then awarded, to the Tunisian company HawKar, winner of the 2021 edition.

According to Khadija Jallouli, CEO of HawKar:

“This vehicle aims to make life easier for people with disabilities including me. This innovation has won several awards and engaged great interest even before its marketing”

For her part, Austrian Ambassador in Tunis, Ulla Krauss-Nussbaumer underlined her country’s commitment to strengthening economic and trade cooperation relations with Tunisia, saying that the two countries could work together to overcome the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

She affirmed her country’s desire to expand its cooperation with Tunisia to areas other than renewable energies, expressing the readiness of several Austrian companies to enter into partnerships with Tunisian companies, particularly in the field of new technologies. As such, she underlined the need for Tunisia to digitalize its administration in order to simplify administrative procedures and promote investment.

For the Commercial Counselor of the Austrian Embassy in Tunis, Franz Bachleitner, Tunisia is an industrial platform that could attract Austrian companies. The pandemic has negatively impacted trade between the two countries, he said, however, reporting a 48% improvement in trade in 2021

According to this Austrian official, an increase in the volume of his country’s investment in Tunisia is expected in the coming years, indicating that two Austrian companies have recently set up in Tunisia in the automotive and tourism sectors. Still according to him “the automotive sector is a promising sector in Tunisia which could become an investment platform in this area, especially as Europe is moving more towards the production of electric cars”

20 Austrian companies are based in Tunisia, most of which operate in the chemical, electronic and electrical, and wood industries.