Algeria Resumes Trade Exchanges With Spain: José Manuel Albares Comments
Commenting on the decision to lift the freeze on exports and imports with Algeria, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Friday evening that Madrid wants normal relations, as is the case with all neighbouring countries.
And the Spanish news agency “EFE” quoted Albares as confirming that Spain wants “relations with Algeria to be the same”, as with all neighbouring countries, and to be “based on friendship, mutual benefit, respect, equal sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
After meeting with Minister for Regional Policy, Isabel Rodriguez, and county officials to prepare for the Spanish presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2023, Albares said he had heard of a “normalization” of trade relations and hoped that this would be realized on the ground.
It was decided on Friday to lift the freeze on exports and imports to and from Spain, after about two months of freezing trade exchange due to the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
On 9 June, the Algerian Banks Association issued directives to financial institutions to “freeze export and import operations to and from Spain and stop any bank domiciliation to conduct commercial operations with Madrid.”
Banking institutions operating in Algeria received, late Thursday, a new directive stating that the decision to “stop any commercial operations with Madrid” has ended.
According to the document, the new decision came “after an evaluation of the previous decision and consultations with relevant actors in the field of foreign trade.”
The Spanish newspaper, El Pais, on Friday, quoted a European diplomat in Algeria as saying that the decision will allow Spanish companies to resume export to Algeria.
The decision to lift the freeze came 50 days after the issuance of the document, in which foreign trade transactions between Algeria and Spain were frozen.
The decision came hours after the Algerian Presidency announced the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Spain signed on 8 October 2002.
The Algerian move came in response to a unilateral decision by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, in which he reiterated his adherence to Morocco’s decision of autonomy in the disputed Western Sahara region.
Algerian and Spanish media wrote that the decision had caused complete commercial paralysis between the two countries, except for gas exports.
According to figures from the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute, Spain’s exports to Algeria in 2020 amounted to over $2.1 billion, while imports amounted to over $2.7 billion.
