APS : Saturday, 03 March 2018
BRUSSELS-The participants in “EU-Algeria Cooperation Week” held from 27 February to 2 March in Brussels indentified means of action to boost relations in the political, security,
judicial and migration fields between Algeria and the European Union (EU), the EU External Action Service announced Friday in statement.
As part of this Cooperation Week, the 6th Political, Security and Human Rights Dialogue, the 8th Subcommittee on Justice and Home Affairs and the 4th Informal Dialogue on Migration and Mobility took place in Brussels.
“Covering three of the five partnership priorities adopted in March 2017, these meetings helped to identify means of action to enhance relations in the political, security, judicial and migration fields,” said the source.
These three meetings allowed discussing various issues such as governance and the rule of law, security, human rights, the fight against organized crime, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, the facilitation of mobility between the EU and Algeria, and the management of migration flows.
“These are the fields of common interest on which both sides shared their analysis. They also assessed the state of ongoing bilateral cooperation and identified follow-up actions,” stressed the statement.
The envisaged actions include a specific workshop on methods of combating cybercrime and another workshop on visa policy to enter the Schengen area.
According to Mogherini’s services, 507,000 Schengen visas were issued in 2016, making Algeria the 7th largest recipient country in the world. Recalling that the EU-Algeria relations are governed by the Association Agreement, which entered into force in 2005, the EU External Action Service said that in addition to the Association Council whose last edition took place in December, thematic meetings involving sectoral experts are organized on a regular basis with a view to strengthening cooperation and bridging viewpoints.
Algeria was the first country in North Africa to adopt “Common Partnership Priorities” with the EU at Association Council held in March 2017.
These priorities, together with the recommendations of the joint assessment of the implementation of the Association Agreement, “now serve as guidelines to boost relations” between Algeria and the EU.
