(Adnkronos) – Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune has called for a review of the association agreement with the European Union – signed in 2002 and entered into force in 2005 – so that it better responds to the “win-win principle”, while specifying that he does not want to enter into conflict with the bloc of 27. The revision of this agreement “is not the result of a conflict, but aims to support good relations between Algeria and the EU as an economic partner on the basis of the win-win principle,” Tebboune said, according to a government note.
According to the Algerian president, the revision of the agreement “is necessary in light of the current economic reality, knowing that when it entered into force in 2005, Algeria’s exports were mainly based on hydrocarbons”, while “today our exports have expanded to other sectors, including agricultural production, minerals, cement, food products and other products”.
Last June, the EU launched a dispute settlement procedure against Algeria and requested consultations with the Algerian authorities to address the various restrictions imposed on exports and investments from the Union. The EU believes that by imposing such restrictive trade measures since 2021, Algeria is failing to meet its trade liberalisation commitments under the Association Agreement. The EU is Algeria’s main partner and in 2023 it accounted for around 50.6% of the country’s international trade.
