Tebboune: “No Backtracking From 51/49 Investment Rule … and New Provinces Before End of Year”

Expounding before Senators his Government’s action-plan, Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune said that the new Government will not back away from the investment rule 51/49, which regulates the conditions of partnership with foreigners, stressing that the latter is a guarantee of national sovereignty.

Mr. Tebboune stated: “We will never give up this investment rule, as it is a sovereign decision and which has proved its efficiency adding that it is acceptable to foreigners.

However, he criticized the profitability of investments in Algeria, and said the Government has allocated about 70 billion dinars for various projects with meager results.

The Prime Minister also dwelt in his address to the council of the nation on Wednesday on plans to revise the Codes of the municipality and the wilaya or province which the Government will present to the parliament for “consolidation of local democracy through a better definition of prerogatives between the state and the local collectives”, as he put it.

“In order to widen the prerogatives and the scope of action of the elected local assemblies in particular with regard to sustainable development, the Government will put forth plans to revise the municipal and provincial Codes for the consolidation of local democracy through a better definition of the prerogatives between the State and local assemblies, ” Mr Tebboune noted.

Concerning the enlargement of the delegate or sub- wilayas, the Prime Minister affirmed that his Government would “adopt an integrated approach taking account of demographic and economic factors” and that the “High Plateaux will be the next step in this process”, stressing that “It is in Parliament that the promotion of the wilayas delegate of the South will be turned into fully-fledged provinces”, wishing to see this “happen before the end of the year”.

“The Government welcomes the accession of MEPs to its efforts to improve the Public Service of Justice, strengthen the rights of individuals and guarantee an effective fight against crime in all its forms”, said Mr. Tebboune.

He added that “the moralization of public life and the all-out fight against corruption inevitably passes through the recognition of the total transparency of the rules and procedures relating to administrative and economic transactions”.

“We need to put in place simple and urgent rules that are accessible and applicable to everyone,” the Premier asserted to this effect.