Brussels, 17/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Algerian prime minister has not ruled out “revising the 49/51 rule”, an issue that has provoked some heated debate between the EU and his country.
This rule requires all foreign investors to work with a local partner and grants the latter 51% of the joint enterprise's capital. This requirement has been constantly criticised by the European Commission, which sees it as a barrier to future business relations.
However, on Saturday 15 June, the Algerian prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, told a CNES-organised meeting (Economic and Social Council) that revision was not currently on the cards but a softening of approach would appear to be on the way. Sellal was quoted in the Quotidien d'Oran as saying that the minister for industry was currently “putting together a dossier on the comprehensive strategy for relaunching investment, whilst protecting certain principles and legal rules” contained in the 49/51 rule. The approach is part of “a more general dossier” for which the goal is Algeria being able to “recover its industrial base” and get away from the “dialogue of the deaf on the role of hydrocarbons” that dominate the country's economy. The prime minister said his objectives included “liberalisation of the investment process, which should not be overly bureaucratic”. He also called for “improvement in the business climate and continuation of the fight against bureaucracy”. He said that there was a need for the different policies to achieve swift results at the very time that “the country is being watched by the whole world”. Sellal detected “an increased interest in Algeria due to the fact that the country has not been engulfed in what is called the 'Arab spring'” by some of the media. (FB/transl.fl)