French investment in Algeria has to grow efficient

French ambassador to Algeria Monday said his country’s investments in Algeria rose up three times in 2008 while Algerian operators describe French direct investment flow as “insufficient.”

• Ambassador Xavier Driencourt said 300 French companies set up subsidiaries in Algeria creating 3,000 direct and 100,000 non-direct jobs.
• A total of 96 percent of Algerian exports to France are hydrocarbons followed by 3 percent of electrical and electronic equipments. On the other hand, food  constitutes 23 percent of France’s exports to Algeria, 15 percent in cars industry followed by 12 percent in pharmaceutical, maintenance and perfumery sectors.
• France’s ambassador said his country is the largest foreign investor in Algeria out of the hydrocarbon sector. Direct foreign investments flow was valued at $229 million in 2007.
• “France is also the second largest foreign investor after the US and followed by  the UAE, Spain and Egypt with $1.3 billion flow,” he told reporters in a press conference
• Driencourt believes the vitality of French investment is based on French banks dynamism in Algeria. They are working on the development of their networks throughout the country, he said.
• He asserted that Algerian-French nuclear cooperation still exists but with a long term concretization as “this field needs high technologies,” he said.
•  Commercial exchange between Algeria and France reached 7.7 billion euros in January-September with a rise of 49 percent compared to the same period in 2007.