Major Algerian-Italian Defense Partnership In The Offing

A high-ranking Italian military and civilian delegation, including the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense and officials from Leonardo Military Industries, visited the Ain Arnat site in the province of Setif, eastern Algeria, which will host a production unit for the assembly of helicopters of the famous Italian brand, in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense.
According to a joint statement issued by the General Secretariat of the Italian Ministry of Defense and Leonardo, the delegation’s visit to Algeria ended on 25 May, during which the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense and National Armaments, General Luciano Portolano, met his Algerian counterpart, Major General Mohamed Saleh Benbicha, and Pasquale Bartolomeo was also part of the delegation as Commercial Director of Leonardo Military Industries.
Referring to the delegation’s visit to the industrial site in the province of Setif, jointly owned by Leonardo and the Algerian Ministry of Defense, the statement said that this visit provided an opportunity to give additional impetus to the completion of all the necessary conditions for the concrete operation of the joint project and the transition to the industrial phase of helicopter assembly in the province of Setif.
In particular, it was agreed to take urgent steps to speed up the deadlines for the signing of additional agreements and the delivery of the first order of 7 AW139 (Augusta Westland) helicopters out of a total of 70 (53 of which are for the Algerian market), the statement said, noting that the Algerian party had confirmed the progress of the negotiations and that the Algerian Ministry of Defense had already allocated financial resources to ensure industrial sustainability in the coming years.
A statement issued by the Ministry of National Defence on Thursday announced that Major General Mohamed Saleh Benbicha, Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defence, received Lieutenant General Luciano Portolano, Secretary General and National Director of Armaments at the Italian Ministry of Defence, who is visiting Algeria at the head of a high-level military and civilian delegation.
The statement noted that the two sides held bilateral talks on the occasion, in the presence of the Director of Military Industries, the Director of Foreign Relations and Cooperation of the Ministry of Defence and members of the visiting delegation, and discussed areas of common interest between the two countries, before the two sides exchanged symbolic gifts.
Algerian-Italian partnerships have been on the rise for some time, with political and diplomatic relations between the two friendly countries reaching unprecedented levels, embodied by the Fiat car factory in Oran, western Algeria, and a historic hike in the volume of trade between the two sides, which last year exceeded 20 billion dollars.