Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune aims to build the new Algeria, stronger and prosperous through, among others, democratic renewal of the entire institutional structure of the country, improving capacities of industry and agriculture, as well as creating hundreds of thousands of medium and small companies and building infrastructure, the writer says. – Picture: Adel Nehaoua/Wikimedia Commons
By Ambassador Saad Maandi
The people of Algeria on July 5 commemorated the sixty second anniversary of its glorious independence, the crowning of the heroic, long and bitter struggle against colonialism, occupation and domination and for the recovery of national sovereignty of Algeria, a several thousand-year-old country, and whose roots are deeply anchored in history.
July 5 was, also, the culmination of a great battle for freedom, dignity and fundamental human rights.
Indeed, we celebrate today, with fervour and pride, the liberating struggle through which our people have made triumph their age-old rejection of invasion and brutality of colonialism and occupation.
For its liberty and national independence, Algerian people have paid the high price and made great sacrifices. More than 1.5 million of our heroes died so that our beloved Algeria lives free in peace, dignity and prosperity.
This historical day is a great opportunity to celebrate our great victory, dignify our achievements and successes and to honour valiant martyrs and Moudjahidines, who fought resolutely against the barbarity of colonialism and occupation.
It is our duty to perpetuate these great sacrifices in the national memory so that no one forgets the price that our people paid to recover its sovereignty and independence. This blessed day is, also, a great moment to meditate on the ideals and sacred national principals and to reiterate our full respect to our martyr’s oath and attachment to build a strong and prosperous Algeria.
Guided by the sacred principals of justice and self determination, Algeria supported the liberation movements and the just struggles of the peoples to defeat the colonialism, occupation and racial discrimination in Africa and around the world.
Today is also an opportunity to bring to mind that some countries and peoples are still fighting against colonial occupation and domination. Since those countries and peoples are not yet free, the international community is urged to fully support their struggle and right to choose freely their destiny.
Algeria strongly supports the Palestinian just cause to end the occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its Capital. Algeria strongly supports Palestine full membership at UN.
Algeria strongly supports the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self determination, through the organisation of a free and fair referendum that conforms to the UN-OAU plan adopted by the SC/UN in 1991.
Since its independence, Algeria has made significant progress and achievements in all fields of development to meet our aspirations and expectations for a better life and well being. Great efforts and important reforms were made to further strengthen the economy, reinforce the financial capacities of the country, create jobs and improve living conditions in terms of housing, education and health care of the Algerian people.
The 54 commitments of President Abelmadjid Tebboune, President of Algeria, aim to build the new Algeria, stronger and prosperous.
The democratic renewal of the entire institutional structure of the country has been enabled, capacities of our industry and agriculture are being improved and reinforced, hundreds of thousands of medium and small sized companies are being created and huge infrastructures consolidated.
The economic recovery is one of the major priorities of President Tebboune. We are living an economic upturn in a new Algeria that counts on its potential and remains open to cooperation with all partners based on common interest.
A new investment law was adopted in 2022 aimed at improving the investment climate and ensuring appropriate conditions to free initiatives and to enhance and diversify the national economy. Algeria has become an attractive pole of investment and has been ranked as the third economy of Africa with a gross national product of US$ 266,7 billion, in 2024 and 4.1 percent growth rate.
Under the leadership of President Tebboune, Algeria is strengthening its position as a key player in the stability and establishment of peace in the region and remains at the heart of the international scene.
Our foreign policy, founded on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states and the spirit of friendship, good neighbouring and co-operation, allows us to deal with security threats in Africa and the region.
My country, due to its internal stability and democratic environment, is exporting peace and security mainly in neighbouring countries.
Moreover, the achievements of Algeria in the fight against terrorism, crime and different scourges such as drug trafficking and smuggling empowers it to be an essential actor in Africa.
Algeria has been involved in several mediation endeavours in the region’s conflicts and crises and is making efforts to stabilise the region and to resolve those crises by addressing their main causes and defending the high values of dialogue, negotiation, mutual trust, respect and co-operation.
President Tebboune has decided to inject US$ 1 billion to finance Development projects in African countries through the Algerian Agency of International Co-operation for Solidarity and Development.
Algeria, a founding member of Nepad and APRM, is chairing the APRM Forum of Heads of State and Government from 2024 to 2026. It is state party to the African Continental free trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and has actively contributed to reach this flagship project of African Union Agenda 2063.
Algeria’s top objective is to help Africa move from the area of developing countries to that of developed countries.
African Continental free trade, one of the world largest free trade areas and a market of 1.3 billion inhabitants, offers opportunities to business communities. Foreign investment is essential for the economic development of African countries and the attainment of the African peoples aspirations, which is transforming Africa’s economies through beneficiation from Africa’s natural resources, manufacturing, industrialisation and value addition.
It is useful to highlight, in this regard, the efforts made by my country to reinforce regional integration, boost intra African trade ties and assure greater prosperity to Africa. Algeria’s approach is based on its conviction that security and stability in Africa are liked to development.
As a gateway to Africa, Algeria, through the Trans-Saharan highway, links African countries to the rest of the world and serves as a trade corridor and a bridge that enables its neighbouring countries to use its high quality and large infrastructures roads, ports and airports, to promote trade and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Other great projects such the pipelines Algiers Lagos and the fibre optic backbone aim at promoting regional co-operation and boosting economic development of African countries.
Relations between Algeria and South Africa are historical. They date back to the beginning of sixties when the leadership of the ANC decided to interact with the Algerian liberation struggle and the late Nelson Mandela visited the National Liberation Army.
In other words, our relations are historical, fraternal, solid and privileged, cemented during the period of the struggle for liberation against colonialism and apartheid.
We share the same desire to enhance our nation’s development and construction and to ensure the sustainable wellbeing and prosperity of our peoples. We also share the same values and objectives and the common commitment to consolidating multilateralism, upholding international law, promoting the peaceful settlements of disputes and conflicts and making the world safer, secure and flourishing.
Algeria and South Africa are strong and committed defenders of the just causes of Palestinian and Sahrawi peoples.
Relations between Algeria and South Africa are solid and cordial. They are founded on cooperation and mutual esteem, respect and understanding. The visits of the high-level representatives and top officials of our two countries have made our ties stronger and the agreements signed between Algeria and south Africa have laid the ground for the strengthening our bilateral relations and diversifying our fruitful cooperation and collaboration.
Today is a very nice opportunity to express the full commitment and availability of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to work closely with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Government of South Africa to further strengthen and tighten the bilateral relations that happily unite Algeria and South Africa as well as to promote investments and commercial and economic exchanges for the benefit of the two brotherly peoples. The President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria is willing to deepen the political consultations between the two countries on issues of common interests.
A very close relationship and mutually beneficial cooperation in every sector between our two countries are essential for an increasingly competitive world. Building strong amicable ties, strengthening further our political relations and exploring the substantial opportunities of investments afforded by our economies will certainly enable us to make striking achievements and to efficiently address and improve the well-being of our peoples.
It is worth pointing out that such endeavours are part of the south-south co-operation aimed to promote solidarity among countries and work closely to achieve the internationally agreed development goals.
In the current context of international relations, it is crucial that Algeria and South Africa tense up their collaboration to use their complementary strengths and enhance their abilities so that they will be in a position to meet the expectations of their people and face the challenging times.
Conscious of the bonds between our two countries and the necessity to promote security and co-operation in support of sustainable development and desirous of enhancing the understanding friendship and solidarity between our peoples, Algeria and South Africa decided, on September 22, 2000, to establish a High Bi-national Commission for Co-operation, chaired by the presidents of our two countries whose purpose was to promote and enhance co-operation in the various sectors of Government and to co-ordinate initiative in this regard. as well as to facilitate contact between the public and private sectors.
The high bi-national commission for co-operation offers also an opportunity to our leaders to meet, discuss and draw up plans of actions that contribute to consolidate further our relations and co-operation.
It is undeniable that high level political visits are the cornerstone of a solid, deep and friendly relationship. Meetings and regular interactions between our high political authorities lead to more rapprochement and deepen the relations that open doors for cooperation, coordination and solidarity. So high level visits have always been a fitting and privileged moment for consultations and dialogue to build a high-quality partnership and pave the way to mutual support and further collaboration.
Various high-level visits on both sides have taken place in the past. These visits have fostered our bilateral relations and contributed to put-in place the legal framework for cooperation. Many cooperation agreements have been already concluded between Algeria and South Africa; these agreements cover primarily the economic, scientific and cultural areas and the collaboration in the fields of ICT, promotion and protection of investments, trade and higher education and scientific research.
We are working tirelessly to further strengthen the strategic nature of the excellent relations between Algeria and South Africa and to promote commercial and economic cooperation to take them to the higher level.
The bilateral ties have made significant progress during the recent years. We highly appreciate these positive and encouraging outcomes. Efforts are being made to boost and increase the co-operation and to explore the opportunities of investments and potentialities of both countries in various areas.
It is important to highlight the big role played by the businessmen in searching for opportunities of investments and new markets. It is essential to encourage our business communities to meet regularly to identify and make use of new business opportunities, create partnerships and to strengthen people to people relation.
We welcome, in this regard, the signing, on august 2023, of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Algerian and South African Chambers of Commerce and industry that provide the creation of a joint business council. More agreements aiming at boosting our relations n and cooperation will be signed in the near future ... .
The direct flight between Algeria and South Africa highlights the strong ties that bind our two great Nations and testifies to the eagerness of Algeria to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields: The direct flight represents a pivotal milestone in the longstanding friendship between Algeria and South Africa. It brings about a strong bond that only further consolidates the foundation of our excellent and cordial relations.
Long live Algeria and glory to our valiant Chouhada (martyrs)
* Saad Maandi is the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria’s ambassador to South Africa
** The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of The African