Will Berlin (Germany) Be The First External Trip For President Tebboune ?

The German government announced, on Monday, that it will set a date on January 19th, the date of the Berlin conference on Libya, in which it extended an invitation to Algeria, and this will make it the first external trip for the new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, if he decides to attend, which is very likely.

Germany had announced months ago its intention to organize this conference to revive the stalled political process in Libya, but the military escalation resulting from the announcement of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar about a military offensive to control Tripoli delayed such a get-together.

Initially, major countries were invited to the conference alongside Germany, including the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Turkey, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Algeria’s invitation to participate was delayed until last week, when President Abdelmadjid Tebboune received a phone call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel inviting him to attend the Berlin conference as well as to visit Germany.

The German move came after Algeria expressed its refusal to be excluded from the Libyan file, as President Tebboune declared during his inauguration ceremony as President of the Republic that he would not accept the exclusion of Algeria from any path of settlement in Libya.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a few days ago, his surprise to see Algeria and Tunisia being at first ruled out from the upcoming conference, as two neighboring countries of Libya. Italy has  later invited Tunisia to attend this planned broad-based meeting.

Berlin will be – if Algeria decides to participate at the highest level in the conference – the first external trip for Mr. Tebboune since his election as president of the country on December 12th 2019.

The head of state announced after  winning the presidential elections that his foreign visits will be governed by the international agenda of Algeria.

This trip abroad may also be appropriate to seal Angela Merkel’s invitation to Tebboune   pay a state visit to Germany.