APS : Tuesday, 13 November 2018
ALGIERS- Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdelkader Messahel and the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini expressed Monday, in Algiers,
their “satisfaction” with the quality of the exchanges they had, reiterating their determination to deepen and improve the Algerian-European relations to face common challenges.
“We are satisfied with the results of this visit which will allow strengthening the partnership” between Algeria and the European Union (EU), said Messahel in a joint press briefing with Mogherini, held at the end of the 2nd Algeria-EU high level dialogue on regional security and counterterrorism.
The cooperation between Algeria and EU “will get denser,” underlined the minister who reaffirmed “the willingness” of the two sides to “face together the regional challenges and deepen all the cooperation aspects so that the Algerian and European citizens will benefit from them.”
In this regard, he said that the launch of the strategic dialogue at the security level will allow “strengthening cooperation, already dense and diversified between Algeria and EU.”
“We belong to the same space and we have the same challenges to take up,” he affirmed, citing the Libyan crisis, the situation in the Sahel, notably, in Mali, as well as the scourge of illegal migration.
While broaching the inter-Maghreb relations, Messahel said that he presented to Mogherini “Algeria’s initiative” for the building of this space which must be, he added, “more coherent,” emphasizing on “security from which the region’s countries and EU will benefit.”
For her part, Mogherini underlined the importance for Algeria and EU to “coordinate their responses in the face of regional challenges, in terms of security, mobility, energy and economic relations.”
She ensured, on this occasion, that Algeria and EU “share the same objective in terms of regional stability and security,” as, she added, security challenges “don’t have borders.”
In this regard, she expressed her “satisfaction” with the quality of exchanges and the parties’ commitment on the occasion of the 2ndAlgeria-EU high level bilateral dialogue on regional security and counterterrorism, following the first session of dialogue that was held in Brussels.
“Our collaboration in this field has strengthened after the launch, one year ago in Brussels, of the dialogue and thanks to the exchanges between our teams last July,” she said
Underlining the “progress” of the Algerian-European cooperation, whether in the field of security, energy, education and the economic diversification, Mogherini renewed EU’s willingness to “support the Algerian authorities’ efforts to diversify the country’s economy.”
“Concretely, our technical and financial cooperation support the Algerian initiatives to improve the business climate, the framework in which small and medium sized companies operate as well as the agricultural production,” she said.
In this regard, she reiterated EU’s willingness to intensify the cooperation with Algeria in the Libyan and Sahel issues and the Middle East.
While broaching the commercial aspect, Mogherini affirmed that Algeria and EU agreed on the fact that the measures of trading regulation must be taken in accordance with the association agreement, announcing that the discussions are underway to “establish our joint vision, as agreed in the association Council in May.”
