Algeria signs executive plan for Belt and Road initiative with China 

Algeria and China signed an executive plan on Monday for the joint development of the Belt and Road initiative, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Algiers has announced. A second agreement was signed regarding cooperation in “important areas” between the two countries extending until 2024.

The Chinese Belt and Road initiative is a project to build roads, ports, railways and industrial zones in 65 countries representing 60 per cent of the global population and providing about a third of the world’s total output.

“The executive plan is another building block for the further deepening and enhancement of cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, which the country joined in 2018,” explained Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra. The minister signed the deal along with the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Khou Lifang during an online ceremony.

China has been the main exporter to Algeria since 2013, displacing France, which had monopolised the trade for decades. Beijing is now the lead trading partner of the North African state.

READ: Algeria, China sign 5-year strategic cooperation pact