A month and a half after Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algeria, the Prime Minister wants to give “new impetus” to the rapprochement between the two countries.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
A first trip abroad for the Prime Minister. Elisabeth Borne begins, Sunday, October 9, a two-day visit to Algeria to give “a new impetus” to the reconciliation initiated at the end of August by the presidents of the two countries. She will be accompanied by 16 ministers, nearly half of his government.
His trip will begin with the laying of a wreath at the Martyr’s Memorial, a high place of Algerian memory of the war of independence (1954-1962) facing France, as well as at the Saint-Eugène cemetery, in Algiers, where number of French people born in Algeria rest. The head of government should during this trip meet the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, with whom Emmanuel Macron had concluded on August 27 a “renewed partnership” around six areas that remain to be implemented.
Elisabeth Borne will chair on Sunday, with her Algerian counterpart, Aïmene Benabderrahmane, the meeting of the fifth high-level intergovernmental committee (CIHN), where it will mainly be a question of “economic cooperation”. The CIHN must end with the signature “agreed”, which will focus on training, energy transition, economic cooperation, youth and education, as well as government. This is for Paris to guide the Franco-Algerian relationship “towards the future, towards concrete projects”.
On the delicate issue of visas, “the discussions have not yet concluded”, Matignon explained Thursday. At the end of August, the presidents of the two countries paved the way for a relaxation of the visa regime granted to Algeria, in exchange for increased cooperation from Algiers in the fight against illegal immigration.