MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday will receive his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is on a state visit to Russia.
According to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov, the two presidents will hold talks and will come out with statements after them. The talks’ agenda will include issues of the development of strategic cooperation between the two countries in various spheres and pressing international topics, including the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
According to Ushakov, the two countries’ positions on most of international problems are "either similar or the same, or very close." He noted that the presidents will discuss bilateral relations in view of the upcoming summit in late July, as well as "various aspects of the Ukrainian crisis."
It is also planned to sign a range of bilateral documents. At a meeting with the Algerian president on Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted that the sides would sign a declaration on strategic partnership, which will "will mark the transition of Russian-Algerian cooperation to a new qualitative level." "The governments of Russia and Algeria will ensure coordinated work on the implementation of the agreements to be reached at the highest level," said the Russian prime minister.
Tebboune arrived in Moscow on June 13. He held talks with the Russian prime minister, speaker of the Federation Council (upper parliament house) Valentina Matviyenko, and speaker of the State Duma (lower parliament house) Vyacheslav Volodin, and took part in the Russian-Algerian business forum.
On Friday, the Algerian president deliver a report at a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
Russia ready to expand ties
According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia positively assesses the Algerian leader’s visit. He drew attention to the prospects for the development of cooperation at the level of business communities and companies, and to the prospects of technical cooperation.
Russian Minister f Economic Development Maxim Reshetniov recalled that Algeria enjoys trade privileges of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). He stressed that Russia is interested in signing a tree trade agreement with Algeria and is ready to promote its, including by means of consultations within the EAEU. Among possible areas of cooperation, he cited industry, energy, banks, geology, transport, and logistics.
In November 2022, Algeria officially applied for membership in BRICS. Business Russia leader Alexey Repik stressed that Russian business supported such a decision. He called for taking a set of measures to expand cooperation between the two countries’ businesses, including visa-free travels for businessmen. He also said that the two countries should pay more attention to innovation projects and that Russian technologies would help Algerian products boost their competitiveness on global markets.
Algerian side’s expectations
The Algerian president said that his country wants to develop relations with Russia in all spheres. He noted that relations between the two countries "cannot change even if the situation in the world changes." In his words, there is mutual understanding between the counties in the current environment. He said that he sees prospects for cooperation in such sectors as agriculture, industry, tourism, science, and culture.
Algeria's Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab called on Russian companies to increase investments in his country. He noted that Algeria is interested in strengthening and developing relations with Russia to find new possibilities in the prospecting and energy sectors.
According to Algeria's Minister of Knowledge Economy, Startups, and SMEs Yacine El-Mahdi Oualid, the two countries have good possibilities for expanding ties in the area of digital economy.
Relations between Russia and Algeria
Algeria is Russia’s third largest trade partner in Africa, following Egypt and Morocco. In 2022, trade amounted to $1.7 billion, skyrocketing by 73.7% in January-March, 2023. Bilateral trade in agricultural goods and food doubled, exceeding $700 million, in 2022.
Energy and the pharmaceutical industry are among other areas of cooperation. One million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine were provided to Algeria, exports of anticancer drugs have started, and insulin is now produced on Algerian soil with Russia’s participation.
Particular importance is traditionally paid to humanitarian ties, and Russia facilitates the training of skilled professionals for Algeria. Throughout the years of cooperation, about 19,000 Algerian specialists in a wide range of fields have been trained, while about 1,500 students from Algeria are currently receiving education at Russian universities.
The two countries are successfully working within multilateral formats and organizations, including the United Nations where Algeria will be a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2024-2025. Productive joint work within OPEC+ and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum has been on track.