Nationalized French insurance companies in Algeria: a long litigation

During his two day official visit to France slated for Thursday, the Algerian trade minister Karim Djoudi will have talks with both his French opposite number, Christine Lagarde and the minister of budget and public service Eric Wutrth, in order to settle a longstanding litigation related to the French Insurance companies nationalized by the Algerian authorities in the early years of the country's independence.

According to sources, this visit aims at diffuse a “time bomb” left by the French occupation which froze the bilateral ties between both countries. The conflict broke out when French authorities claimed back their insurance companies’ properties.  In this respect, Algerian trade minister Karim Djoudi will fly to Paris accompanied by the general manger of the Algerian Company of Insurance and Reinsurance (LACAAR) and the general manager of the Algerian Company of Insurance (SAA). M. Djoudi will play act as referee in this conflict which is pending for more than four decades.

The French authorities are working hard to settle this matter as soon as possible to pave the way for a return of the French company on the Algerian alongside the other foreign companies operating in Algeria. But the Algerian side is taking the necessary time to settle the pending conflicts case by case in order to avoid mistake when dealing with, the already intricate issue, which exhausted the Algerian authorities under relentless pressure from the “black feet” who claimed their right to recover the properties they, according to them, left behind after the independence of  Algeria. 

According to the Algerian embassy in Paris, the French minister is due to call a conference followed by a debate with the French companies’ managers (MEDEF) , a day before his slated visit to the French customs school in the town of Tourcoin, Lille.