MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Tunisia is keen to develop joint projects with Russia in such areas as aeronautic and automobile industries, Ambassador to Russia Mohamed Ali Chihi told TASS prior to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the country.

"We have to recognize that bilateral relations are still below expectations and existing potentialities and we hope that these recent endeavors will allow to diversify and enhance cooperation in many fields such as automobile and aeronautic industry, agricultural machinery, technology, education," the diplomat said.

He added that the two countries have achieved major progress in the tourism field. "There are also attempts to develop cooperation in the agro-alimentary, textile and clothing sectors," he noted.

Lavrov is visiting the Maghreb states - Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia - as part of a tour on January 23-26.