US companies in a rat race to invest in Algeria

The Algerian Minister of Industry and the Promotion of Investments and small and medium sized companies has yesterday declared that the Algeria authorities are ready to assist the US companies that express the will to invest in Algeria especially in sectors other than hydrocarbons.

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• Taking the floor before the joint committee of US and Algerian businessmen, M Benmerradi has indicated that the previous hurdles that hampered investments in the non hydrocarbons sectors are no longer as constraining as before.
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• Talking at the forum held here in Algiers, M Mohammed Ben Merradi has asserted that there are 77 fully equipped industrial zones at the moment in addition to the government move to retrieve real estate properties of the public companies wound up by the Algerian authorities.
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• He further indicated that The US stand as the first Algerian business partner with more than 80 companies operating in the hydrocarbons sector; the US was the first Algerian client with a gross total estimated at $ 9.26 billion over the year 2009.
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• The chairman of the US- Algerian Businessmen Forum , Ismail Chikoune has noted that the American delegation, led by the chairman of the Arab- US chamber of Commerce, comprises some 140 companies covering all sectors of activities including public works, transportation, water resources, renewable energies, transfer of technologies and solar energy.
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• He asserted that the new investments’ requirements comprised in the complementary financial law will not hamper the American operators since, the same requirements are implemented in the Middle East countries, but it is pivotal for the US entrepreneurs to learn more bout the Algerian markets and its challenges, noting that the large number of these businessmen are born to Algerian origins.
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• The US ambassador to Algiers has indicated that the US companies are keen on taking part in the major five year project launched by the Algerian authorities with a total coast of $ 286 billion, noting that more than 125 US companies are operating in Algeria including 80 in the hydrocarbons sector.
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• For his part, the General Manager of the Algerian Company for the Promotion of Imports “ Algex” Mohammed Bennini has revealed in a declaration to Echourok, that the US companies usually avoid bureaucracy driven markets and that the presence of a high profile American delegation in Algiers translates their will to invest in Algeria.
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