Brussels, 13/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - European Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn was in Algeria from Tuesday 10 to Thursday 14 May for consultations on bilateral cooperation and security in the Mediterranean-Sahel region.
According to an Algerian source, the visit saw the signing on Thursday of two cooperation agreements. The first makes available budgetary aid of €18.7 million over three years to help diversify industry and improve the investment climate. The second, worth €8 million will finance a triangular (Algeria, EU, UNDP) cooperation programme to support local development. The official Algerian news agency APS reports that a new four-year cooperation programme with funding of €6 million will be launched before the end of the year to support youth employment and training.
The commissioner held discussions with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal who said that he was convinced of the “promising future prospects regarding the implementation conditions of the Association Agreement signed in 2002”. Algeria highlights the current growth in bilateral relations. “Algiers has recently welcomed a number of high-ranking European officials who have come to re-shape cooperation relations that have been very unfavourable to Algeria.”
With the visit by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini in September 2015, followed by that of Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella and the earlier trip by Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete and, lastly, the visit in April 2016 by a delegation led by Christian Danielsson, Director General at the European Commission's DG Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, bilateral cooperation seems to have been given fresh impetus. On 23-24 May, the first EU-Algeria Business Forum on Energy will take place in Algiers. Energy is a key issue in the cooperation with this country with which a strategic partnership has been in place for over a year. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)
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