Algerian Businessmen Work To Remove The 51/49 Economic Rule

Algeria’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched different moves to develop the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) by bringing new investors to the Algerian market, which has been almost abandoned since the beginning of the year by Algeria’s popular movement since February,22, which led to the postponement of many events, economic fairs and business councils, which are an opportunity to attract foreigners to invest in Algeria, as the Algerian chamber and businessmen are moving to cancel the Algerian investment base 49-51.

Chairman of the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdelkader Gouri, said in a statement to Echorouk, that the Chamber had witnessed a reluctance to organize the economic events at the beginning of the current year and even since July 2018, because it was managed for a temporary circumstance by its former chairman, Mohamed Al-Eid Ben Amor, in light of the postponement of the elections of the National Chamber due to the failure to fold the file of provincial chambers. This concerns both Oran and two other chambers, which were pending at the level of the courts because of appeals by businessmen who questioned the credibility of the results of the provincial elections, forcing the need to postpone all the events that are related to the participation in international fairs and the freezing of the activity of the Chamber, which witnessed the inauguration of a new official last June.

Chairman of the ACCI said. “Even the annual contributions and adherence of businessmen and institutional owners in the chamber remained stuck. Today, however, an intensive program of work has to be set up, including the amendment of the basic law of the Chamber by forcing all institutional owners to engage. Optionally, but mandatory in order to nominate the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the official representative of all economic dealerships, after the search of new partnerships for the Algerian economy and the accompaniment of local dealers in the post-protests stages.

“One of the points to be reviewed is the investment rule 51/49 which was brought by the former Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, which remains the biggest obstacle facing foreign investors in the Algerian market. This rule should be removed and foreigners should be allowed to enter for what they see as fair, especially in the non-strategic sectors. Why is regulation 51/49 imposed? Working with a partnership of 10-90% for Algeria is enough, and partnerships with foreigners should not be overstated.”

Abdelkader Gouri’s moves coincide with the demand of many businessmen in the ACCI to abolish the rule 51/49, and economic experts who believe that the damage has been more than useful in the last 10 years, which calls for the need to quickly raise or at least review and take into account the specificity of each sector.