Algeria groups boycott imports of 500 French companies

The General Assembly of Algerian Contractors, an economic employers’ association, yesterday announced that it had decided to boycott the imports of 500 French companies following French President Emmanuel Macron’s “harmful comments” about Algeria’s history and image.

“We thank all the economic institutions that took the initiative to cut their commercial dealings with about 500 French export and import companies,” the body said in a statement.

It condemned Macron’s statements and called for a review of economic relations with the French state.

The statement revealed that the organisation is seeking to establish a national association that works to cut off all economic ties with any country that does not respect Algeria, without giving further details.

The association includes about 2,000 companies in the fields of construction, public works and irrigation sectors.

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According to a previous statement by the French embassy, more than 6,000 French companies export their products to Algeria.

A few days ago, Macron accused the Algerian authorities of “having a grudge against France”, and challenged the existence of an Algerian nation before France’s colonisation of Algeria.

Later, the Algerian presidency summoned its ambassador to Paris for consultations in protest against these statements, which it said were “offensive” and represented an “unacceptable insult” to the memory of more than five million resistance fighters killed during the French colonial period.

Algeria also closed its airspace to French military aircraft operating as part of Operation Barkhane in the African Sahel region.