Bird & Bird has moved to expand its African reach with a new association deal in Tunisia.

The top 15 City firm has agreed an association with Tunisian law firm Dakhlaoui Avocats, which is led by former firm Gide Loyrette Nouel corporate and commercial lawyer Salah Dakhlaoui.

Bird & Bird said it had identified opportunities in the Tunisian market on the back of general infrastructure development relating to a number of its core sector focus areas including energy, financial services, healthcare, IT and aviation.

Dakhlaoui worked for six years with French international firm Gide before before setting up his own firm in Tunis in 2007.

Bird & Bird head of France Frederique Dupuis-Toubol said the alliance had come as a continuation of the firm's bid to strengthen connections in the north and sub-Saharan regions of Africa and the Middle East.

The firm launched an office in Abu Dhabi last year, as well as signing an association agreement in Morocco.

Dupuis-Toubol said: "Tunisia and the wider region have interesting opportunities within several of our key sectors, and we look forward to working closely with Salah and his team."

To date, Gide is the only international law firm with an office on the ground in Tunisia although a raft of UK firms entered Francophone Africa via Morocco launches last year, including Allen & Overy and Norton Rose.

Other firms to have launched in Morocco include CC, which officially opened the doors to its Casablanca office last week (7 February) and Eversheds, which signed an association agreement in the country in March last year.