REG IO N A L FO C U S It can be difficult to fill job roles such as executive assistants or secretaries The AGS team takes particular care preparing a valuable item for packing Sami Afankous, of AGS Tunisia 44 The price and availability of containers is a problem that has lingered and triggered increasingly high costs. As the container fleet worldwide has shrunk, demand has, inevitably, increased. Firms must often book transport 50 days in advance, instead of 10 days before the pandemic. Theres a different picture across the border in Algeria culturally, politically, and economically and the country can appear something of a closed book to the wider world. Its a traditional society that follows a model of sovereign and protectionist development, says AGS local manager Alexandre de Beauregard [see panel on p47, and feature on p59]. As the largest producer of gas in Africa, its also richer than outsiders might imagine. Like Morocco, it avoided the upheavals of the Arab Spring, but tensions have simmered nevertheless. Three years ago, widespread public protests resulted in Abdelaziz Bouteflika being replaced as president by Abdelmadjid Tebboune. One economic consequence has been protectionism, with the Algerian government controlling consumer imports and promoting goods made domestically. Meanwhile, efforts continue to diversify non- hydrocarbon exports and wean Algeria off its dependency on oil and gas. AGS carries out between 100 and 150 international moves annually, import and export combined. Grappling with the moving industrys twin headaches of finding good staff and tracking down containers has proved less onerous than for some neighbouring countries. Theres a good level of training and skills in Algeria, and it isnt difficult to find people who match our needs, says De Beauregard. We provide working conditions that respect local and international standards and our work makes sense (to staff) because you can immediately see that its useful: a service. The nature of overseas trade in Algeria means theres no problem with containers, according to De Beauregard, because the country despite government policy remains a major importer of common consumer goods. Most containers landing in ports are returned empty by shipping companies, so the sharp increase in rates hasnt had a significant impact here. For all that theres a sense of political fragility in Tunisia, its proximity to Libya, in a state of perpetual chaos, has brought economic benefits not least to the local branch of AGS. A lot of embassies that would have been in Libya are here 50-70 per cent of our clients are diplomats, Sami Afankous, Deputy Manager at AGS Tunisia, told FIDI Focus. The other mainstay of AGS business in Tunisia is big industrial companies, especially petroleum firms such as Total and Shell, French firms linked with transportation, and worldwide pharma and distribution companies, albeit these now employ limited numbers of foreigners. But the departure of the African Development Bank which began a decade ago and was once a profitable source of trade for AGS has left a void that has yet to be filled completely. Moreover, bureaucracy makes business life difficult, Afankous says, with the government seeking to limit exports and imports. Tunisias recent upheavals have discouraged