WASHINGTON- The Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane affirmed during a meeting, Tuesday in Washington, with American businessmen, that Algeria has today become “a real investment destination”, reiterating the determination of the State to “protect investors and meet all the conditions for the success of investments”.
“Algeria has today become a real investment destination thanks to the reforms implemented by the Government”, indicated Mr. Benabderrahmane, on the sidelines of his participation in the work of the first day of the American-African Summit.
To this end, he highlighted the new legal and organizational framework which, he said, enshrines “important principles, in particular the freedom to invest and grants everyone total freedom to choose the investment within the framework of transparency and equality in the treatment of investments”.
The new legal framework creates a High National Commission for appeals related to investment to the Presidency of the Republic, which reflects “the determination of the State to protect the investor and to meet all the conditions for the success of the investment,” he continued.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister welcomed this “important” meeting which testifies to “the common will of the two parties, Algerian and American, to promote the bilateral partnership and to develop cooperation in various fields”, considering that these meetings “intervene in application of the directives of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, to strengthen relations and cooperation with Algeria’s partners, in particular the United States of America, with which Algeria shares a common political will to exploit to revalue the economic content of relations between the two countries”, he said.
Algeria “aspires to exploit all opportunities for integration between the economies of the two countries, to increase the volume of investments on the basis of the win-win principle, and to increase and diversify trade”, he said. underline.
This meeting, he adds, takes place in a situation marked by “a great dynamic that characterizes bilateral relations, in particular through the organization of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, in particular the 7th session of the Algerian-American Governmental Council for Trade. and investment, whose conclusions and important recommendations must be implemented according to a precise timetable”.
And to recall that Algeria “is the third largest trading partner of the United States in Africa, especially since the volume of trade between the two countries has increased during the first nine (9) months of the current year, to 3.1 billion USD, a significant increase compared to the previous year”.
Regarding investment, the Prime Minister underlined that the American presence on the Algerian market “remains below the potential of the two countries and the investment opportunities offered by the Algerian market”.
Over the past twenty (20) years, American investments have come in at the bottom of the ranking in terms of value and number of projects and the number of jobs created, noted Mr. Benabderrahmane.
The Prime Minister mentioned, in this respect, the various incentives and advantages offered by the investment climate in Algeria such as the reduced costs of production and energy and the qualified workforce, to which s add basic multimodal transport infrastructure.
Mr. Benabderrahmane highlighted “Algeria’s major interest in achieving regional integration” and encouraging investments contributing to the diversification of the national economy and non-hydrocarbon exports”.
The Prime Minister affirmed that “several opportunities can be exploited in this sector through the creation of SMEs, micro-enterprises and start-ups, in addition to the field of the automotive industry in which Algeria plans to establish a real industry, taking into account the conditions for its success, including the rate of integration, the transfer of technologies and the development of subcontracting”.
And to recall the particular interest Algeria attaches to the housing, tourism, pharmaceutical industry, fishing and aquaculture sectors.
At the end of his speech, the Prime Minister said he was convinced that “the contacts established between the businessmen of the two countries and the Algerian and American economic operators and the support of the governments of the two countries are able to achieve a real qualitative leap to which we aspire in order to promote the partnership between Algeria and the United States”.
Responding to questions from American businessmen, Mr. Benabderrahmane pointed out that Algeria has managed to achieve a growth rate of 4.9%, calling on them to “support the government’s efforts to achieve the objective of a double-digit growth rate”.
He also recalled the improvement of the business climate in Algeria, “a fact confirmed by the various international financial institutions”, reaffirming that the main objectives of the government consist in achieving “health, food and energy security”.
The Prime Minister emphasized the prominent place currently occupied by Algeria in “the achievement of energy security for Europe”, and its support for promising investments in Africa, being a major gateway to the continent. for international markets.
Translated from APS.
