Brussels, 11/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and the President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, have both confirmed that they want to pull the stops out so that the EU/Algeria Association Agreement (currently on the negotiating table) can be signed by the end of the year. Mr Prodi told journalists, after his meeting on Wednesday with the Algerian President who was visiting Brussels with a delegation of African leaders (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4/5), that it had to be signed in order to strengthen Euromed cooperation, even if they know it will not be easy. The Algerian President said that he accepted the challenge, noting that considerable progress had been made and that six of the nine parts of the Agreement had been settled. Mr Bouteflika hoped that the rest would be sorted out at the WTO Summit (in Doha, November 2001, Ed).
Before journalists, President Prodi welcomed the initiative taken by the African leaders to speed up the development of Africa, stressing the will to intensify political and economic links between the Union and Algeria at this "historic moment" characterised by an anti-terrorism consensus, implicitly warning against confusing Islam with terrorism. Mr Prodi said their responsibility was to set an example and live together as brothers, fighting against terrorism with the police but also with active co-operation. He welcomed the position taken by Algeria on the 11 September attacks in the United States. Mr Bouteflika said they were in absolute solidarity with the US people, but indicated that as a Muslim Arab country, Algeria could not be used as a launchpad for action against other countries in the region, signalling his preference for operations carried out in the framework of the UN. He exclaimed that they did not like seeing any children die, whether US, Afghan or Palestinian. Mr Bouteflika laid great emphasis on the Algerian internal situation, characterised by the fight against terrorism and insecurity, deploring the fact that his country had long been alone in suffering from terrorism. The scale of recent events had made the international community aware of this "global scourge", said Mr Bouteflika, adding that there was no such thing as "good" or "bad" terrorism. He confirmed his belief in the union of the Maghreb, saying that the integration process had to be speeded up.