PM Ouyahia the First Algerian Official Ever to Visit French Ambassador Office

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has accepted on Tuesday a lunch invitation in the Residence of France Ambassador to Algeria, becoming the first official since the independence (1962) to step in this French office.

Mr Ouyhaia has been invited by deputy speaker of the French Senate, former PM, Jean-Pierre Raffarain, who conducted a two day work visit to Algeria with French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Pierre Lellouche.

No statement has been made at the end of this collation which has been organized away from cameras.

Mr Raffarain and Lellouche took part in the Algeria France partnership forum held on 30 and 31 May in Algiers, aiming at boosting bilateral relationships. The forum gathered representatives of more than 700 Algerian and French enterprises. 

At the end of the forum, the two parties have signed two agreements, including the repurchase of Algerian glace company Alver by French giant Saint Gobain, and a partnership agreement relating to introducing French Axa to the Algerian market. 

Yet, negotiations over the setting up of Renault assembling factory in Algeria are still going on.

 To recall, France counts more than 420 enterprises operating in Algeria, making of it the first non hydrocarbons investor in the North African nation. Bilateral trade exchanges hit 9 billion Euros, in 2009.