Mali President pays a four-day visit to Algeria

Algiers- Diplomatic efforts between Algeria and a number of the Sahel countries accelerated due to the regional situation.

Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure began Monday a four-day official visit to Algeria, leading a large delegation, to give new impetus to relations between Algeria and Mali and to lay the foundations for a more effective bilateral and regional cooperation, likely to face the terrorist threat in the Sahel region.

Previously, official sources said that both Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure and his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, will visit Algiers and meet the Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.The source added that Mali president Amadou Toumani Toure will pay a visit, in the next few days, to Algiers at the invitation of the president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, without determining the date of this visit.

The same source asserted that the Minister Delegate in charge of Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, transmitted in Bamako a letter from the president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the Malian president concerning the development and expansion of ties between the two countries, adding that the letter addressed the latest developments in the Sahel and the efforts of the Sahel countries including Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in the regional cooperation that would combat terrorism and revive the economic developments on a permanent basis.

Days ago, the FM Mourad Medelsi announced that the Malian President will pay a visit to Algeria at the invitation of his Algeria counterpart the president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Meanwhile the Mauritanian media quoted their sources, described as identical, as saying that the Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz will visit Algeria soon.