French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (left) and Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune (right) in Algiers on October 10, 2022 (AFP/Alain JOCARD)
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne gave a positive assessment on Monday of her two-day trip to Algeria and first trip abroad, which, according to her, allowed the two countries to move forward towards “a renewed partnership, part of the duration”.
The head of government welcomed the progress in bilateral rapprochement, made in particular during a Sunday meeting of the High Level Intergovernmental Committee (CIHN), the first since 2017.
“I have the feeling that, together, we have made progress and that this CIHN has enabled us to lay the foundations for a renewed, long-term partnership that will benefit our young people,” Ms. Borne told the media.
The CIHN, in which some fifteen ministers from each country took part, led to the signing of 12 industrial, technological, educational and cultural cooperation agreements, most of which were declarations of intent.
On Monday, Ms. Borne and her counterpart Aïmene Benabderrahmane inaugurated a Franco-Algerian Business Forum to boost “a new dynamic” in economic exchanges between the two countries.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne visiting the French International Lycée Alexandre Dumas in Algiers, October 10, 2022 (AFP/Alain JOCARD)
Wishing for partnerships based on “complementarity”, the Algerian Prime Minister stressed that Algiers must “diversify” its economy, “get out of dependence on hydrocarbons and attract foreign investment”.
He cited agriculture, drug production, renewable energy and infrastructure as offering opportunities for French companies amid the recent relaxation of Algeria’s strict foreign investment laws.
The Forum, which is held until Tuesday, is organized by the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business France, a public structure responsible for international investments, which has brought in 70 French companies.
France, “first investor in Algeria, excluding hydrocarbons”, and its companies are “ready to participate in the diversification” of Algeria, assured Ms. Borne, calling to rely on young people from both countries who “want to act and full of ideas”.
– “The atmosphere matters” –
The vice-president of French employers (Medef), Fabrice Le Saché, praised the role of President Emmanuel Macron, who came to meet the Algerian head of state Abdelmajid Tebboune at the end of August to relaunch bilateral relations, after months of estrangement. “He created an atmosphere and the atmosphere matters” for business, he told AFP.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne upon her arrival at the presidential palace in Algiers, October 10, 2022 (AFP/Alain JOCARD)
Algeria is France’s second largest trading partner in Africa. According to Algerian customs in 2020, France is the country’s second largest supplier after China, and its second customer just behind Italy.
Paris is also the second largest investor in Algeria, according to the IMF, with 500 companies established in the country, which represent 40,000 direct jobs.
The question of gas was not on the menu but Ms. Borne has already said she wants to “continue to move forward” with Algeria to increase its production capacities.
The French delegation had only one large group, Sanofi, which has an insulin factory project. Four SMEs are also represented there: Générale Energie (recycling), Infinite Orbits (micro-satellite), Neo-Eco (waste) and Avril (agri-food).
According to Ms. Borne, who had lunch with President Tebboune before returning to Paris, cooperation between the two countries will continue through “regular visits and exchanges at the economic, political and technical levels”.
For the French Prime Minister, this “strengthened” partnership focuses on three pillars: the economy, mobility and visas, and youth. On the Algerian side, the Prime Minister hailed a “great convergence (…) on regional and international issues of common interest”.
– Mobilities –
Upon her arrival on Sunday, Ms. Borne had laid a wreath at the Monument des Martyrs, a high place of Algerian memory of the war of independence (1954-1962) facing France, as well as at the Saint-Eugène cemetery in Algiers, where number of French people born in Algeria rest.
In this regard, the composition of the commission of historians from both shores, who must examine the archives of the two countries, is only a “matter of a few days”, she said.
On the other delicate issue of visas halved by Paris in the fall of 2021, Ms. Borne reported “intense exchanges” between French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and his Algerian counterpart, saying she was “confident that ‘they will emerge quickly’.
© 2022 AFP
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