Since the beginning of this year, Britain has shown a remarkable interest in strengthening cooperation in the military fields with Algeria. This was reflected by the close visit of two senior British officials to the country, and their meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army, through which he sent several messages related to “Algeria’s neutrality in the ongoing international conflicts and its jealousy over its sovereignty”.
The last British visitor to Algeria was the Minister of State in charge of the Armed Forces, Stephen Heppey, who arrived in Algeria at the beginning of the week at the head of an important delegation. This high-ranking British official at the Ministry of Defence was received by Lieutenant-General, Al-Saeed Shangriha, Chief of Staff of the Army, with whom he held consultations that focused on strengthening military relations between the two countries.
According to the Algerian Ministry of Defence, during the meeting, the two sides touched upon the state of military cooperation between the armies of the two countries and ways to strengthen it further in the future, and also addressed the security challenges known to the world, in general, and the African continent, in particular, and exchanged views on various issues of common interest.
In his speech, Lieutenant-General Shangriha said that such activities and meetings represent “favourable opportunities to elevate the strategic dialogue between Algeria and Great Britain to the aspirations of our institutions”. The Algerian Chief of Staff highlighted “the readiness of the Army high command to make the necessary efforts to embody a dynamic of cooperation that benefits the two institutions, based on a frank exchange and an objective and pragmatic vision.”
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On the possible areas of cooperation, Shangriha said that the higher authorities of the two countries are keen to promote them more and more, especially by focusing on areas of mutual interest, such as the exchange of experiences in the framework of combating terrorism and in the field of training, pointing to the “desire to identify opportunities and favourable areas for cooperation in order to embody them,” which was approved by the British official who, in turn, expressed his country’s readiness to further develop bilateral military cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
The visit comes just three weeks after another visit to Algeria by the British top Defence Adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, Air Marshal Martin Elliot Sampson. During the reception of this high-ranking British military officer, Lieutenant-General Shangriha said that Algeria is fully prepared to “activate the necessary applied measures in order to achieve the desired dynamics, on the basis of frank cooperation and a visionary, permanent and pragmatic endeavour”. The Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army proposed to his British guest to initiate a joint study in order to identify the available opportunities and areas of their embodiment, in particular the formation.
