France encourages its companies to operate in Algeria, says ambassador

French ambassador to Algeria Xavier Driancourt said Tuesday the North African country is not dangerous in terms of security aspect. “It is obvious that nationals receive warnings in some limited areas as it is the case in all the countries in the world.”

• “France asked its companies operating in Algeria to keep up its projects. The country has huge economic capacities which impose cooperation between Algeria and France,” the ambassador told reporters in the province of Batna (east of Algiers).
• “A total of 430 French companies operate in Algeria providing it with an income of $3 billion. They have created 30,000 new direct jobs and about 100,000 indirect ones,” he added.
• He also said Algeria has huge tourism capacities but “they are not exploited and Algerians should make them known.”
• He described visa procedures in Algeria as “complicated compared to some touristy countries such as Tunisia and Morocco.”
• “The issue of visas has something to do with the Algerian sovereignty and we respect that.”
• He added that Algeria has large opportunities to develop desert and religious tourism. “For instance, the province of Batna has big forests. It can develop hunting tourism as many French like hunting wild boars.”