Paris Called Its Companies To Stop Investing In Algeria

A document of the French Foreign Ministry that introduces Algeria and its economic capabilities, reveals an explicit call from Paris to its companies, which lasted 5 years, not to invest in Algeria due to the lack of appropriate conditions, according to its claim.

The document, which included data and statistics on Algeria from 2015 to 2019, dating back to 2020, was previously published on the French Foreign Ministry’s website in the section dedicated to introducing countries (a copy is available to Echorouk), showing a box containing two yes or no answers, regarding whether Algeria is on the list of the 40 Countries with priority investment for the French companies, and the answer was with a sign (X) on the phrase (no), meaning that Algeria is not among the list of priority countries for investment for the French companies.

What attracts the attention is that the same document devoted to Morocco and Tunisia contains the (X) on the answer, yes, meaning that these two countries are among the list of 40 countries that should be given priority for investment by French companies.

This document shows an explicit call from Paris for its companies not to go to Algeria and invest in it, as the answer came after a review of several indicators and economic data related to Algeria, such as the “Doing Business”, arrangement of the International Transparency, French exports to Algeria and Algeria’s sales to France and others.

The same document, which included an explicit call for the French institutions not to invest in Algeria, came from an official body representing the French government, the Foreign Ministry, which is supposed to provide data related to Algeria, the investment climate, and other details, and that the French companies are completely free to invest or abstain and don’t take such a position.

Over the past years, the Algerian-French Joint Economic Committee was held, amid French assurances and calls for more cooperation and investment promotion, and the French side talked about the presence of about 400 French companies in Algeria, and counted about 7,000 French companies exporting goods to Algeria.

On the other hand, several amendments appear to the same document issued in April 2021, that was reviewed by Echorouk, including deleting the question related to the country if it is among the list of 40 countries that have priority for investment for the French companies.

This amendment was likely caused either by an Algerian protest against what was stated in the document, which explicitly contradicts the official discourse regarding cooperation, partnership, and investment in Algeria, or due to the amendments that were included in the foreign partnership by suspending the 51/49 rule in several sectors and maintaining it only in areas considered strategic.