Hillary Clinton: “I am pleased to hear that more women will be participating in Algeria’s upcoming elections”

Algiers-US-Algeria ties are developing positively, Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told APS during the four-day visit to the United States on Thursday.

“My visit was an opportunity to identify the new prospects for bilateral relationship. The beginning of 2012 is an opportunity to open consultations between the two countries on areas of tension in the region that should be taken in consideration, as is the case of Syria, which must be allocated with an official work”, FM Medleci added.

Medelci asserted that both Algeria and USA are satisfied with the implementation of Military Training programs that have been planned by the two countries.

With regard to fighting terrorism, Medelci cited the concerns about the situation in the Sahel region before and after Libya unrest.

The minister explained in this regard that Algeria is coordinating work with the Core countries (Algeria-Mali-Mauritania-Niger) in order to combat terrorism.

“It’s about coordination of partnership between the Core countries and other partners including the USA. This would enable the fight against terrorism in the best conditions, through the application of training capacities that our partners enjoy and their system of information and technology, and even equipment whenever required”, he asserted.

Medelci announced that the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Algeria on February, adding ; “She expressed moths ago, her intention to visit our country at the invitation of Algeria and we are happy to receive her”.

On the other hand, Hillary Clinton said during a press conference in Washington D.C; “it’s a pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Medelci here to Washington for consultations. I’ve had the opportunity to work with him now and it’s a great tribute to the strong bilateral relationship between our two countries that we have ongoing consultations like this”.

 The U.S. official added; “Our two nations have worked closely on security and economic issues, particularly counterterrorism, for more than a decade. Algeria is a charter member of the Global Counterterrorism Forum which we launched last September in New York. And we recently initiated a Counterterrorism Contact Group to further facilitate cooperation in the Sahel. We discussed the evolving situation in Syria and the need to end the Assad government’s assault on its own people. Algeria has participated in the Arab League’s monitoring mission in Syria, but regrettably, the violence has not stopped. And we will continue to work with Algeria and all our partners in the Arab League to end the violence in Syria and to hold those responsible for the violence accountable”.

Hillary Clinton asserted that both Algeria and USA have discussed Algeria’s May elections saying; “We also discussed Algeria’s upcoming parliamentary elections and ongoing political reforms. The United States is committed to working with Algeria to support an open, free, democratic nation with a thriving civil society and institutions that give the Algerian people the future they so deserve”.

Asked about the political reforms introduced by Algeria, Ms. Hilary Clinton responded; “Well, let me begin by saying that Algeria has undertaken very significant reforms, and we welcome those. We want to see Algeria having a strong democratic foundation that reflects the aspirations of the Algerian people. We commend the Government of Algeria’s recent efforts in that direction. We will be eagerly watching the outcome of the parliamentary elections”.

Hilary Clinton also expressed pleasure to hear that more women will be participating in these elections; “I am pleased to hear that more women will be participating, and we are also very supportive of the Algerian Government’s invitation to international organizations to monitor the elections”.

With regard to the reforms in media, she said: “We’re also encouraged by the Algerian Government’s moves to open up the broadcast media so more voices can be heard, and we think that’s very much in keeping with the goal of greater democratization that the government has committed to.”

 Another important question was asked about the Algeria-Morocco conflict on Western Sahara territories, and Hilary Clinton just said; “And with regard to the Western Sahara, our policy has not changed. We continue to support efforts to find a peaceful, sustainable, mutually agreed upon solution to the conflict. We support the negotiations carried out by the United Nations, and we encourage all parties, including Algeria, to play an active role in trying to move toward a resolution”.

Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci on Wednesday embarked on a four-day visit to the United States, during which he took over the chairmanship of the Group of 77 (G77) and China from Argentina at a ceremony in New York.

During its tenure as the head of G77, Algeria conducted the mission of reviving the group on new bases and toward new objectives, dictated by current international changes,” said a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs.

Algeria, which already chaired the group in 1981 and 1994, takes over the chairmanship from Argentina in 2012 in accordance to a decision made at the 35th session of foreign ministers of the group held on September 23, 2011.

After the handover ceremony, Medelci  travelled to Washington to meet with US top officials, including Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.