ALGIERS-The Prime Minister Aimene Benabderrahmane said Saturday in Algiers that the achievements on the ground to support and sustain start-ups enshrined the commitments of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune to a new business model.
In a speech at the opening of the inauguration of the 2nd National Startup Conference, in the presence of members of the Government, the mediator of the Republic, holders of innovative projects, CEOs of start-ups, representatives of public and financial institutions, and researchers, Benabderrahmane said that “the achievements made so far in the field of startups on the ground and those to come reflect a strong desire for change.”
“They fall in the implementation of the commitments of the president of the Republic to move forward to a new business model,” he said.
Convinced of the importance of start-ups and artificial intelligence, President Tebboune has established, for the first time in the history of Algeria, a ministry dedicated to startups and a Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence in order to create an environment conducive to the transition from a rentier economy to an economy with diversified incomes without dependence on oil and price volatility on international markets.
The president of the Republic attaches a “major interest” to the transition of the Algerian economy from a rentier system to a model based on other productive sectors and knowledge economy, hence the importance of start-ups that “fuel” this transition, said the PM.
Such steps will certainly help accelerate the transition to the digital economy and increase digital products and online transactions, resulting in the emergence of more creative and innovative companies able to offer the easiest solutions and provide opportunities to a greater number of start-ups, he continued.
Despite a difficult financial and economic situation, President Tebboune decided to create the National Startup Financing Fund “to make start-ups a vector of the new economy,” said the PM.
The fund with a capital worth DZD1.2 billion has financed 390 innovative project holders so far, he stated.
The Government’s Action Plan for the implementation of the programme of the President of the Republic provides for the establishment and enhancement of regulations for innovation and electronic means of payment and the revision of the legislation on e-commerce.
“The commercial code whose revision is being completed provides more flexibility for start-ups. It is currently under consideration at the parliament,” announced the PM. e said.
Benaberrahmane also referred to “the simplification and facilitation of procedures for creating start-ups and other activities for the benefit of new investors,” stressing that “the enactment and enforcement of many regulations have resulted in a significant increase in the number of start-ups and labeled innovative projects.”
“More than 750 start-ups have been created in a year and a half and we seek to double this number,” he said.
APS
