APS : Thursday, 22 February 2018
ANKARA- Algeria is the leading trading partner of Turkey in Africa with a volume of trade of US$3.5 billion, said Thursday in Ankara, Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel.
“Algeria is Turkey’s leading trading partner in Africa. The volume of trade between the two countries totals US$3.5 billion,” Messahel told a press conference held jointly with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Messahel, who is on an official visit to Turkey, said that the discussions with his Turkish counterpart were an opportunity to assess bilateral cooperation and means and ways to further develop it.
In this regard, he added, “there are 796 Turkish companies, employing over 28,000 people, in Algeria.”
The meeting between Messahel and Cavusoglu showed the “shared willingness” to broaden cooperation to new areas within a win-win partnership between the two countries.
The Turkish minister expressed the “great appreciation” of his Government for the visit, taking place in a context marked by a shared political willingness to strengthen cooperation, between the two countries, as shown by the upcoming visit of President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Algeria from 26 to 28 February 2018.
In this regard, the two ministers expressed their commitment to give a new impetus to cooperation, especially in the fields of tourism, agriculture and renewable energy.
To that end, they agreed to seize the opportunity of the upcoming session of the joint committee to achieve cooperation actions.
The two ministers also discussed regional and international issues, particularly the crises and conflicts in Mali, Sahel, Libya and Syria as well as Palestinian question.
During the “positive” discussions, Messahel reiterated Algeria’s position in favour of the “promotion of political solutions to the crises, with the respect for the sovereignty of States and their territorial integrity as well as people’s self-determination without foreign interference.”
