Brussels, 08/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 7 July, the EU and Algeria signed a memorandum of understanding on energy. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, arrived in Algiers on Saturday, where he signed the document, together with Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, describing the content of the document as “strategic”. The European Union is, he said, “greatly committed to seeing a stable, democratic and prosperous Algeria developing. It is with a great deal of interest that we are following developments in the democratisation and human rights process and the implementation of the new political reforms, which started in 2011”. He said that a strong civil society, where women can play a vital role in society and where women's concerns are listened to, can help to guarantee stability.
Barroso said that the memorandum of understanding signed is an instrument to develop energy cooperation, both in conventional and renewable sources of energy, on the energy industry and the transfer of technologies as well as reinforcing the security of energy supply to Europe. In return, he offered Algeria a guarantee of market share within the EU. This text opens up promising and important prospects for the Algerians, he stated.
Algeria, which has expressed its interest in developing renewable energies, and which is considering the opportunity to export surplus clean energy to Europe, has been invited to attend the meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean group for cooperation in the field of gas to be held in December of this year in Brussels.
In an interview with the daily newspaper Libération (Algeria), President Barroso said that “Algeria is a major supplier of natural gas to Europe”, which is “Algeria's main client”. The issue, therefore, is a strategic one. Renewable energy sources are “an area in which our cooperation potential is extremely high”, because Algeria's strategy in this field is “compatible with European policy”, as it aims to ensure the security and environmental sustainability of energy supply. “It is for this reason that we intend to support the Algerian plan by making European experience and technologies available”, he explained. For the Algerians, the start of cooperation of this kind will take full effect once the EU has completed its common energy policy and revised its internal legislation on the conditions for the transport of electricity on the European single market, from one member state to another.
During his talks with Sellal and several members of the government, including the trade minister, Barroso pledged his support for Algeria's accession to the WTO, making this a priority area of the relationship, because it is “extremely important to the diversification of the Algerian economy and its roots in the global economic and trade circuits”. Barroso also spoke of the “progress in the country's socio-economic reforms”, which the EU supports. He welcomed “positive developments”, among them the decision to “conclude an agreement in principle on tariff dismantling for agricultural and industrial products”, adding that he was very pleased by the move. The EU, which is Algeria's natural partner, can help it to improve the country's business climate and work together to face “international economic challenges”. “We also discussed the issue of the movement of persons [and the possibility of] establishing dialogue on migration, mobility and security, which would allow us to make concrete progress on important issues such as the mobility of individuals, visas and border control”. He also argued in favour of greater Maghreb integration, “particularly in the fields of trade and the economy”, but also in the specific case of energy. (FB/transl.fl)