Brussels 13/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Four projects for the “twinning” of Algerian institutions with their European counterparts will be signed in October of this year, according to the national press agency APS, quoting a high-ranking civil servant responsible for relations with the EU. Calls for proposals have been made and the first contracts will be signed on 21 October, said Abdelaziz Guend, who is national director of the management unit for the support programme to the association agreement between Algeria and the European Union (P3A).
APS reports that he has announced that the first twinning project will focus on “reinforcing the recognition capacities for agricultural products” (geographical identification and designations of origin) and the second on “the creation of an economic observatory”. A third project will cover the “reinforcement of the capacity of the national agency for the promotion of external trade” and the fourth will provide support for the national observatory for the environment and sustainable development.
According to the news agency, a dozen European-Algerian twinning projects will be launched before the end of the first quarter of 2014. They are at “different stages of readiness”, the official stressed, adding that six further twinning projects are “pending validation” and close to the “phase of launching the calls for proposals”. Two of them will benefit the veterinary services of the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure compliance with international standards.
Readers may recall that the twinning initiative was originally devised by the European Commission to help the accession candidate countries to acquire the skills and experience needed to adopt and implement Community law. This policy was extended in 2003 to the new independent states of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. (FB/transl.fl)