Egyptian Ambassador: Cairo Appreciates Algeria’s Weight in the Region
The visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi is ongoing and will be arranged “at the appropriate time,” the Egyptian Ambassador to Algeria, Mukhtar Warida, said.
He added that his country appreciates Algeria because it is a large and important country in North Africa.
Warida confirmed that the relationship between the two countries is historical and deep and that the cooperation between them is not new and is in continuous development; “the two countries have strong relations in various fields, in implementation of the sincere desire of the political leadership in the two countries to develop and move them to broader and more comprehensive horizons because they are based on mutual support”.
In an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper, the Egyptian diplomat explained that “coordination and consultation are confirmed in Egyptian-Algerian relations, which reflects the exchange of high-level contacts and visits that bring together the leaderships of the two countries, the latest of which was the phone call between Presidents Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Abdelmadjid Tebboune, during which views were exchanged and visions towards regional and international issues of common interest and ways to address the challenges facing the region, especially in light of the role of the two countries and their keenness to enhance joint Arab action. President Tebboune also invited President al-Sissi to visit Algeria, and it will be met in due course”.
He asserted that “Algeria supports the interests of Egypt, as happened at the Arab League Council summit that was held recently, through the decision that was taken for the first time on maintaining Arab national security, which looks at the water security of Egypt and Sudan as part of Arab national security.”
On the other hand, the ambassador said that his country “views Algeria with appreciation because it is a large and important country and has weight in North Africa, and this confirms what President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi proposed that there will be consultation and coordination between the countries of the middle east and the Arab Maghreb, and there would be continuous cooperation between them, especially since Algeria will join the membership of the Security Council representing the Arab group at the beginning of 2024, and it will have a diplomatic role in defending Arab issues and interests, as the importance of Algeria is increasing and growing”.
Answering to a question related to the convergence of views between Algeria and Cairo, Egypt’s ambassador to Algeria talked about common views between them, which means denying the information that was circulated in the media about the existence of differences in the positions of the two countries; “there are many regional and international issues and common views that concern the interests of the two countries, and for this there are understanding and matching visions about the necessity of joint action with these economic, developmental, political and security challenges in the region and the world, including the Libyan file and the challenges faced by the Sahel and Sahara countries such as Chad, Mali and Niger, which are important countries and face many challenges, as Algeria supports the integrated Egyptian position on the need to work with these countries in order to enable them to counter terrorism, spread moderate thought and combat extremism, taking into account its developmental dimension”.
In economic cooperation, he said, “The balance of trade exchange between the two countries amounts to about one billion dollars, and it increased by 25% in 2022, and Egypt exports raw materials, agricultural and industrial goods, and semi-manufactured goods to Algeria, and we import some goods from Algeria. There are Algerian investments in Egypt and we are trying to attract more of them to Benefit from the package of incentives and benefits offered by Egypt in the recent period to investors”.
