Brussels, 06/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Algerian President Abelaziz Boutefika will be in Brussels on 10 and 11 December for an official visit to Belgium but, not as far as we know, meetings in the European Commission for the President or ministers accompanying him.
Algeria and the Commission, which signed the EU-Algeria Association Agreement on the fringe of the Ministerial Conference of the Barcelona Process in Valencia in April, is preparing to implement that global agreement, but, to date, Algeria has not agreed to conclude the interim agreement that should allow for the early application of the trade provisions, as it prefers to wait for the end of the ratification process.
At the same time, the Algerian Government, as President Bouteflika undertook, has resumed negotiations with the WTO, after four years of interruption. Accession is said to be envisaged for 2003.