Brussels, 24/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and Algeria have set up a national system of environmental information as a result of an 18-month twinning operation financed by the EU.
The EU delegation in Algiers announced on Wednesday 24 February that the twinning was set up by France and Austria. The programme is part of the support plan for implementing the association agreement between Algeria and the EU (P3A). The system will be managed by Algeria's national observatory of the environment and sustainable development (ONEDD). Twinning is one of the specific instruments for financing programmes based on donations for each country. Its realisation is entrusted to the EU member states, the European Commission says.
The environment is among Algeria's priorities - which include the development of renewable energy. On Monday 22 February, Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced $120 billion of investment in wind and solar energy, according to Algeria's news agency APS. The development of these clean energies is considered a “national priority”, according to Bouteflika, with Algeria currently facing a fall in oil revenue. While oil revenue forms the greatest share of Algeria's income (95% with a decrease of nearly 50% since the current fall), diversification would enable savings of nearly 300 billion cubic metres of gas between 2021 and 2030 - making this volume available for export, APS reports. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)