Britain will deal with the Algerians’ Elected President, Hugh Robertson says

British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for North Africa and the Middle East policy areas, Hugh Robertson, who is visiting Algeria tomorrow, Wednesday, to conduct high-level political and economic talks, told Echorouk that his country considers Algeria as a key regional player and an indispensable partner in the region, adding that the Kingdom will learn from the Algerian experience as much as its cooperation in security issues, particularly in the area of efforts to ensure stability in the Sahel region.

“My country’s government supports the lifting of the British direct investments in Algeria. Lord Risby wishes to organize a large conference for investment in Algeria in London in the second half of this year”.

Your visit to Algeria coincides with the first memory of the terrorist attacks that targeted Tiguentourine gas plant, which is one of the most important British economic interests in Algeria. Could you please tell us about the outcome of the bilateral relationships between Algeria and the United Kingdom over the last year?

First, I would like to express my joy and proud because it is my first visit to Algeria, and which comes after nearly a year since the visit of Prime Minister David Cameron. Obviously, our bilateral relationships have been tightened over the past two years in the field of security, counter-terrorism, political issues, parliamentary relations, the English language, higher education and cultural links , as I’m going through this visit to inaugurate a private school for teaching English that is run by Alligan company, and which name is the British Institute for English. I will also sign an agreement to support the 100 Algerian PhD students to join universities in the United Kingdom.

The Kingdom is committed to establish a strong partnership with Algeria, and the bilateral relationships are good. I will discuss with the Minister Delegate to the Foreign Minister, Madjid Bougherra, the growth in cooperation across a wide range of issues. Our security cooperation upgraded to a new level thanks to the discussions we had in the framework of the strategic security partnership. The appointment of Lord Risby as the envoy for the British Prime Minister for Economic Partnership noticed great strides forward in our partnership.

Despite the strong security guarantees that were granted by Algeria for BP in Tiguentourine Gas Plant, and for protecting its workers, but the company decided to work and go back to sleep in Hassi Messaoud. Does Britain asked it to return to Illizi?

BP explained publicly that it is fully committed to working in Algeria, and that the decisions made on how to conduct the sites and activities depend on the concerned companies and not on the British government.

British judicial authorities handed over the businessman Abdelmuomen Khalifa to their Algerian counterpart, and some parties connect the decision with Britain’s desire to get a better position in the Algerian energy sector, after the recent U.S. reports that talk about the huge reserves of shale gas. What is your opinion in this regard?

The decisions about the delivery of Khalifa are the British courts’ matter only, and there are no political factors in such cases.

Algeria prepares for the Presidential Elections in April 2014. How does Britain look to this important event after the set of Arab spring revolutions and the pressure by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in the Sahel?

The UK believes that it is important to have stable and effective democracies in the region. And this year’s elections are important to Algeria, where the expected result is of course Algeria’s decision. It is not appropriate to the United Kingdom to make comments. The UK is committed to have a relationship that will continue after the elections, and we will work with the President who will be elected by the Algerian people.

How does Britain support the Algerian efforts to combat terrorism in the poor Sahel areas?

Algeria has a lot of experience with regard to security challenges, so we will learn from our Algerian friends, as much as our support for them. We have had a positive dialogue about confronting terrorism with Algeria for a period of time, and we can recall, for example, that we share a strong policy against paying ransoms to terrorist groups. The meetings of the new strategic security partnership will live up to this new security cooperation to a new level. The United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with Algeria in the fight against terrorism. Algeria is a key player in this region.

2013 witnessed the most important convergence between the UK and Algeria in the field of diplomatic and security cooperation, but there is a great reluctance by the British contracting companies in the Algerian market. What are the reasons for this reluctance?

It is clear that when companies want to export, they often focus on what they see as traditional markets, and therefore, Algeria had never been a traditional market for the British exporters. We think that there is a promising future to increase British investments in Algeria, in order to create employment opportunities and transfer the skills and technology, and provide training.

The United Kingdom believes that Algeria have huge potential outside apparent opportunities in the field of oil and gas, and now it is the time to invest in other sectors, as while infrastructure continues growing in Algeria, based on the president plans’ support to finance the infrastructure, the desire of British construction companies increased to bring their expertise and skills to Algeria. In the area of ​​agriculture, we support a major investment by the Irish and British companies in the region of Ghardaia, aiming to help Algeria in achieving self-sufficiency in milk production.

We are also keen to support investment in Algeria in the Health Sector, including the construction and management of hospitals. In Education, we will host an Algerian delegation at the World Education Forum and Trade Fair in London during the current month. We support a wide range of British companies and institutions that work on upgrading the English language. 

Many of the British companies outside the oil and gas sector are operating here in Algeria, including the bank HSBC, and pharmaceutical industries’ Glasgow Smith Kline GSK, and laboratories of Astra Zenica, and Unilever Group. 

Lord Risby played an important role in helping to improve the economic partnership between our two countries, by working closely with his counterpart the Minister Youcef Yousfi. He will be speaking at the Conference “Window  of Investor in Algeria”, which will be held in London on February, 10, in order to draw attention to the opportunities in Algeria with the contribution of private sector companies.