A South Korean Project to Revive Car Industry in Algeria

The South Korean ambassador to Algeria, Kim Chang-mo, will lead a high-level joint delegation to visit the new car factory in Batna, which is supported by the latest manufacturing “robot” technology.

The Ministry of Industry will participate in this visit to determine the readiness of the factory, and its conformity with the establishment of the modern automobile industry in Algeria with a high integration rate.

Official sources from the “Global Group” told Echorouk that the Korean ambassador’s statement comes within the framework of benefiting from the new investment law, and the privileges it offers to foreign partners to invest in various fields, especially in the field of automobile manufacturing, where the Koreans want to establish a real industry based on the latest technology, coinciding with the statements of the Minister of Industry Ahmed Zeghdar, who confirmed that the new investment law will allow the arrival of major companies in the automotive industry in Algeria according to a significant integration rate.

The same sources added that the Algerian-Korean partnership requires this visit to verify the readiness of the Koreans to resurrect the auto industry in Algeria according to the new conditions.

Echorouk sources explained that the ambassador will use the visit to confirm the readiness of the Batna factory to embrace Algeria’s new trend in the manufacture of cars, especially after the factory benefited from the latest equipment, which ranks fifth in the world for the giant Korean group in the automotive industry “Kia-Hyundai”, which will be present, that has already pledged to the Algerian authorities to transfer technology and establish a real automobile industry in its factory in Algeria, by raising the local integration rate by 50% and dispensing with hard currency in importing auto parts that will be manufactured locally. It also pledged to employ 30,000 workers in its Batna factory, which will be open to various brands in Algeria for the manufacture of car bodies, and to stop importing them from abroad.

It should be noted that the Korean car manufacturer renewed its confidence in the Global Group, which presented a work plan for the manufacture of cars in Algeria, which depends on the local industry of car bodies based on locally made Algerian iron, and in the fields of welding and painting, and the manufacture of car parts and accessories, in coordination with the National Agency for Support and Employment of Youth “ANSEJ”, and the National Unemployment Insurance Fund “CNAC” for the creation of 1,000 small and medium companies for handling and manufacturing plastic parts and accompanying the Korean partner of these start-ups to develop them and enter global markets.

The complex also embodied an agreement with the Directorate of Vocational Training and Education of Batna to train the workforce in the various factories of the complex and to update the pedagogical programs for the various specializations of the mechanical industries, enabling the youth to learn the latest work methods and technologies used in the mechanics.