Bouteflika’s visit to France to be debated by French and Algerian foreign ministers

“The visit of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to France, will be one of the top issues to be discussed between Bernard Kouchner and his opposite number Mourad Medelci during their meeting at the United Nations Head Quarters”, the French ambassador to Algiers Xavier Drancourt, yesterday revealed

• Talking yesterday at a press conference at the French Cultural Center in Telemcen (Western Algeria), the ambassador pin hopes on the meeting between the two ministers saying “The burning issue concerning the assassination of the six French monks will not affect the French-Algerian relationships”, arguing that “these relationships are exceptional in comparison to those existing between France and other counties across the world”.
• Xavier Drancourt further added” Partnership between France and Algeria extends to all sectors of activities as opposed to other countries where this cooperation is limited to a specific one”.
• Taking the floor before the media professionals, the ambassador focused on the importance to reach a consensus during the meeting between Kouchner and Medelci concerning the visit of the Algerian president to France.
• The ambassador takes a chance on this visit to “improve the bilateral ties between the two countries “ , he noted. It should be noted that the Algerian president Abdelazie Bouteflika has cancelled his visit that was initially slated for the fall of 2009 amid a tense political climate between France and Algeria concerning the Western Sahara issue, where the French authorities showed a clear bias towards the Morocco crowned by an “imperial” visit to France, that many considered as mere provocation to Algeria.
• Among other questions raised during this press conference, the French ambassador has mentioned the shrink of the French investments in Algeria in comparison to the Asian ones that, he said “were linked to the consequences of the new financial law adopted by the Algerian authorities”.
• In this respect, the minister added that he  “ understood the  Algerian move to implement some measures to curb imports especially after suppressing the consumer credits, a decision which affected  directly  the  French car makers, but this doesn’t mean that the MEDEF didn’t invest in Algeria “ .