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French president's visit to Algeria to address multiple challenges

19 December 2012 00:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.rench President Francois Hollande will pay on Wednesday and Thursday an official visit to Algeria, his first trip to the Maghreb region since he came to power in May, APA reports uoting XInhua.

The visit came after four French ministers had successively visited Algiers from mid-July to mid-October in an effort to warm up bilateral relations.

During his stay, Hollande will meet with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika, address members of the upper and lower houses of the parliament, deliver a speech at the Franco- Algerian economic meeting, and hold a speech at University of Tlemcen Aboubakr Belkaid.

Dr. Rachid Tlemcani, teacher-researcher at the Political Science Institute of the University of Algiers, told Xinhua that " the visit ... is a new beginning for the bilateral relations ... to the extent that both parties have shown their intention to settle the pending issues, including those related to memory, to the Algerian community in France, in addition to those related to economy."

Benjamin Stora, a French historian and an expert on Algeria, was quoted recently by the official APS news agency as saying that during Hollande's visit, he is likely to recognize "the repressive nature" of the colonial rule, or to meet with fighters "of the Algerian Liberation War and French nationals who participated in the struggle for the independence of Algeria."

However, concerning the issue of whether Hollande will declare repentance of his country to the crimes committed between 1830 and 1962, Tlemcani considers such an issue "a red herring, fuelled in France by the extreme right wing and by the revolutionary family in Algeria," adding that the most important for the two nations now is working on strengthening bilateral ties at all levels.

Another subject of common concern is the Agreement of 1968, which organizes the entry, residence and employment of Algerians in France and French people in Algeria. The agreement, which has been amended three times, was the subject of numerous negotiations during the era of ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who sought to review the agreement to control immigration from Algeria.

As a sign of rapprochement, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls recently confirmed that his country had given up reviewing the agreement of 1968 with Algeria.

According to figures provided by French historian Gilbert Meynier and Algerian historian Tahar Khalfoune, until 2012, some four million Algeria-originated people live in France, half of whom bi-nationals.

Meanwhile, economy is another major challenge during Hollande's visit, and a couple of investments projects are expected to be signed. France presents itself as a preferred economic partner for this North African country, and 20 agreements have been sealed between Algerian and French companies since May 2011.

France plans to strengthen its economic presence in Algeria, through investing in such sectors as banking, insurance, transportation, technology, petrochemicals, engineering, water resources, environmental protection, construction and industry.