Algeria- Yesterday, Wednesday, Indian President Draupadi Murmu concluded a state visit, the first of its kind to Algeria by a high-ranking Indian official in several years, which lasted 4 full days.
The visit coincided with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s announcement that he would begin reviewing the association agreement with the European Union in 2025, which confirms his country’s direction towards diversifying its economic partners outside the traditional European space, and the French one in particular.
In the opinion of observers, the new station represented an opportunity to develop bilateral economic relations during the next five years, especially since Algeria aspires to achieve a gross domestic product of $400 billion in 2027.
For its part, India aspires to become the third largest global economy by the same date, achieving growth of 7% for the third year in a row.
Encouraging investment and trade
The volume of trade exchange between the two sides over the past years ranged at the threshold of two billion dollars, according to official figures, while it reached its peak in 2018 at a value of 2.9 billion dollars, before gradually declining, especially after the Corona pandemic.
In a joint press statement following bilateral talks, President Tebboune revealed that it was agreed to “upgrade the level of economic cooperation and encourage investment and trade exchange.”
Tebboune announced “preparations to hold a session for both the Joint Cooperation Committee and the Political Consultation Mechanism as soon as possible, in order to serve efforts to support relations and deepen bilateral partnership, especially by meeting businessmen and strengthening cooperation frameworks,” according to what was reported by the official Algerian News Agency.
A new era of cooperation
The visit witnessed the consolidation of the work of the Algerian-Indian Economic Forum with the participation of more than 300 traders from the two countries, which culminated in an agreement to “establish fruitful and profitable business relations and partnerships for both sides,” according to the final statement.
The event also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for cooperation by the Algerian Economic Renewal Council and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In this context, Kamal Mawla, President of the Council – the largest employers’ organization in Algeria – stated that “the partnership between the two countries is witnessing remarkable development in vital sectors, especially energy, agriculture and technologies.”
Mawla called on his Indian counterparts to build “an industrial alliance that would reach products destined for the two countries’ markets and export to other markets,” noting the economic reforms that Algeria recently adopted, most notably the enactment of a new investment law and the promotion of digitization.
He pointed to the registration of more than 9,000 new investment projects in Algeria, stressing to Indian businessmen that “pharmaceuticals, tourism, raw materials, and petrochemistry are vital sectors for cooperation and partnership.”
For her part, Draupadi Murmu said during the Business Forum that her visit was very special, considering that “the rapid growth of the Algerian economy is an opportunity to develop the partnership between the two countries and launch a new era of cooperation in many fields, such as the pharmaceutical industry, communication technologies, emerging companies, agriculture and space.”
The European agreement is a contract of adhesion
Regarding the background of the Algerian move towards India at this time, in parallel with the preparation to review the European partnership, Al-Hashemi Jaaboub – a former minister of industry and trade – said that the agreement with the European Union is a contract of submission that his country signed under duress and without discussing its terms, in light of the international isolation it suffered before. Year 2000.
Jaaboub explained to Al Jazeera Net that the content of the agreement is to grant exclusive customs exemptions for goods and services and privileges to European companies in exchange for exempting Algerian products exported to the Union from customs taxes, as well as a pledge to help Algeria confront terrorism and transfer technology, development and growth.
The former minister adds that the Europeans did not adhere to this at all, “while they benefited from advantages that were not enjoyed even by friendly eastern or brotherly Arab countries.”
The spokesman considered that India is an economic power competing with China and the countries of Asia and Europe, as it began exporting its goods despite the obstacle of privileges granted to others.
Jaaboub stressed that diversifying import sources is an economic necessity, and that Algeria’s entry into the World Trade Organization and the generalization of customs exemptions granted exclusively to Europe to the rest of the world will be a severe blow to European companies, as he put it.
For his part, economic expert Omar Haroun stressed that Europeans suffer from an inferiority complex towards everything African because of their colonial past, which prevents them from dealing with their former colonies, but rather always seeking to preserve their economic interests in them.
On the contrary, most of the rising Asian powers are founders or members of the Non-Aligned Movement and other organizations that believe in justice between nations and the right of peoples to benefit from their wealth, Haroun tells Al Jazeera Net.
In this context, Algeria’s work comes at all levels, as it has currently chosen to work with the Europeans bilaterally on outstanding issues, and has achieved impressive results with the Italians and Portuguese, according to the same analyst.
The spokesman considered that Algeria’s prominent role in the Security Council during the past months and its recent striking appearance at the “Summit of Seven” in Italy made many countries correct their compass by opening direct channels of dialogue with it, away from the false messages of the mediators, as he described it.
Offering a competitive alternative to the West
On the other hand, Ammar Too – a former minister who headed several sectors for 13 years – believes that the visit of the Indian President to Algeria had declared backgrounds and hidden goals.
The expert stressed in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that the visit served the development, political and geostrategic program within the will of Algeria’s economic rise and achieving a sufficient degree of national independence in all fields.
The analyst highlighted, “Helping to diversify cooperation with the aim of breaking away from traditional regional dependencies, or for Algeria to have something that helps it deal equally with the dominant European sources of supply.”
In this context, he referred to the successful Indian experience in Algeria in the field of railways and the manufacture of small tractors and agricultural equipment locally, in addition to the production of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industries.
The former minister considered that this evidence is a strong indication of the great potential to establish cooperation and industrial investments in Algeria, allowing it to diversify sources of supply and open new markets geographically, which is “what pushes the West to offer a competitive alternative to its selfish industrial and commercial policies,” as he described it.
But the European Union may read in the renewal and promotion of Algerian-Indian relations an attempt to encircle it at the southern European waist by an ally led historically by America and supported by Britain, as expert Ammar Too warns.
He added in his speech that the European Union’s fears of India’s economic expansion in Algeria are the same geostrategic perception that inhabits the thoughts of everyone in the West, which is broader than his country’s interaction with the Russian-Chinese camp in the East.
“But Algeria’s goals are nothing more than cooperation with India as an old friend and a new regional power in service of its ambitious development project, within a non-aligned policy and far from the politics of alliances,” the former government official concludes his analysis.
