Busy Schedule Of Visits Between Algeria And France

The two visits paid by French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne to Algeria opened a wide scope for establishing strong partnership relations that are expected to crystallize remarkably starting next year, with visits by senior French officials, as well as important milestones, including the Algerian-French joint Economic Committee (COMIFA).

The discussions that brought together Algerian officials and their French counterparts at the highest level, laid the foundation for the visits of many officials of the ministerial sectors between the two countries. What is remarkable about all of this is that all these visits have so far been in one direction, i.e. visits by French officials towards Algeria, which confirms the keenness which the French side attaches to relations with the country that it had colonized for 132 years, fearing that it would lose all the privileges it had always enjoyed.

According to the French ambassador to Algeria, François Gouyette, the coming year will witness a great dynamic in the relations between the two countries, represented by a number of visits led by French officials to Algeria, in order to embody the agreements and memoranda of understandings that were agreed upon during the visit of both the French President and his Prime Minister.

The first visits in this regard are those that will lead the French Minister of Defense (Minister of Defense), Florence Parly, to Algeria before the end of the current year, a visit that comes at a time when the French presence in the Sahel region is in a very difficult situation, the nature of which is the departure of the French army at the request of the transitional leadership in this country, and the French military presence in some neighboring countries in the Sahel is facing great difficulties, similar to what is happening in Niger and Burkina Faso, in which the residents of the two countries revolted against the French military presence.

During Macron’s visit, and after him, Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne, the Sahel region was at the heart of the consultations between Algerian and French officials, and among the leaks that were nominated, there was a French desire to establish coordination with Algeria in that region, given the remarkable presence and prominent influence that Algeria enjoys, especially in Mali, where Paris lost its bet after years of sacrifices in money, lives and weapons.

Among the names that have scheduled a visit to Algeria, starting from the beginning of next year, is the Minister in charge of Foreign Trade, Olivier Pechte, who leads a sector that has suffered great losses in Algeria, due to the crisis that erupted between the two countries in recent years, as a result of the undeclared sanctions imposed by Algeria on French interests.

Paris is trying to exploit the return of warmth to bilateral relations, in order to restore the privileges it lost during the years of crisis.

However, the most prominent stopover in Algerian-French relations during the coming year, according to what was stated by the French ambassador in Algeria, will be the convening of the Algerian-French Joint Economic Committee (COMIFA), during the first six months, accompanied by new political consultations, and this is one of the encouraging results of the convening of a high-level governmental committee.