Algerian-Italian Partnership: Fast Steps and Serious Embodiment 

Data related to the investment of the “Stellantis” car group through the Italian brand “Fiat” in the Oran Tafraoui factory for installation and assembly (western Algeria), showed that the Algerian-Italian partnership is seriously and rapidly embodied, driven by a joint will from the leadership of the two countries that will also include other strategic sectors.
In this context, it was evident through the visit of the Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production, Ali Aoun, to the Wilaya of Oran last Thursday, accompanied by the Ambassador of Algeria to Rome, Abdelkrim Touahria and the CEO of the Middle East and Africa in the Stellantis car group, Samir Charfan, and other officials, that Fiat Tafraoui is on its way to actual embodiment, according to the time agenda that was previously announced since months ago.
According to the Minister of Industry’s statement, the first car will come out of the factory next December, after the completion of the construction work of the facility, indicating that the factory will produce 30,000 vehicles per year.
For his part, Samir Charfan, CEO of the “Stellantis” group for the Middle East and Africa, said: “We are proud to celebrate today the end of the infrastructure works of Fiat Oran Tafraoui factory, in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Pharmaceutical Production, we have fulfilled our obligations to fill all the resources available to us, thanks to the benefit, above all, from the continuous support by the authorities in all stages of the project”.
“This foundational stage does not only represent our respect for our obligations in terms of deadlines but also contributes to establishing our ambition to become the tool for developing the auto industry in Algeria,” Stellantis MEA’s CEO added.
Within the framework of the partnership in the “Fiat” project, many training courses were organized in Algeria and abroad for the benefit of workers, employees and observers who were installed, according to “Stellantis”, to ensure that international standards are applied in the automotive industry in the Fiat Oran Tafraoui factory, where more than 61.000 hours were provided for the training out of 90.000 hours scheduled in 2023 at the Belgaid Training Center in Oran (western Algeria).
These developments confirm that the “Fiat Algeria” factory will be a reality starting next December, as part of the embodiment of a tangible and concretise partnership between Algeria and Rome, which has the support of the leaders of the two countries and that will expand to other sectors.
Among the projects that tend to the embodiment in the framework of a bilateral partnership between the two countries, regarding the wide range of grain production projects according to the latest technologies, and announced by the largest wheat and grain production company in Italy, which is “Bonifiche Ferraresi”, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, after obtaining a license from the Algerian authorities to start the production of durum wheat in the south in partnership with the company “Ben Mallem Imad Ben Houcine” called Copre Sud, and the majority of its shares will be in favour of the Italian party.
In the field of defence, a partnership is being embodied with the Italian group “Leonardo”, in the Ain Arnat area in Setif (eastern Algeria) to produce helicopters in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense, which was visited by a high Italian delegation last May, according to a previous statement of the company, a visit that provided an opportunity to give an additional boost to finish all the conditions necessary to concretise the joint project and move to the industrial stage of the installation of helicopters, according to the same statement.
At the time, it was agreed between the two parties on urgent steps to accelerate the deadlines for the signatures on the additional agreements and to install the first order of 7 AW139 helicopters (Ugusta Westland) out of a total of 70 (of which 53 for the Algerian market).