ALGIERS- Minister of Industry, Ahmed Zaghdar, stressed on Monday in Algiers, the need to benefit from the opportunities available and to encourage productive investments between Algeria and the Czech Republic.
In his speech at the opening of the work of the Algerian-Czech business forum held in the presence of the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Sikela as well as businessmen and organizations of the two countries, Mr. Zaghdar stressed that “we should redouble our efforts to raise the level of economic and trade cooperation by taking advantage of the opportunities offered and encouraging productive investments likely to create wealth and diversify our economies within the framework of mutually beneficial partnerships”.
Recalling the volume of trade which did not exceed 204 million dollars in 2021 despite the “historic and privileged political relations, in addition to the considerable capacities of the two countries”, Mr. Zaghdar emphasized ” the need to establish cooperation capable of increasing the volume of trade and economic exchanges while raising bilateral relations to the highest level”.
In this wake, the Minister of Industry said he was “satisfied with the positive dynamics experienced by Algerian-Czech relations with the aim of strengthening economic and commercial cooperation through the exchange of intersectoral visits”. He also called on Czech companies to exchange experiences and develop mutually beneficial partnerships with Algerian companies”.
“This forum intervenes in a special situation that Algeria is going through, which is experiencing an unprecedented change in the various fields, particularly economic ones,” said the minister, affirming that Algeria had made major reforms to attract foreign investment and improve the business climate through the promulgation of the law on investment aimed at the development of sectors of activity that bring added value. This new law, added the minister, aims to ensure sustainable and balanced regional development, enhance natural resources and local raw materials by giving priority to technology transfer, innovation and the knowledge economy.
According to Mr. Zaghdar, the forum constitutes a new opportunity for the economic operators of the two countries “to establish bridges of communication with a view to strengthening the partnership in areas of common interest, and this, for the consolidation of our economic and commercial relations.
For his part, the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Sikela, affirmed that his visit to Algeria at the head of a delegation composed of representatives of pioneering Czech companies in different fields “denotes the particular interest given by his country to the promotion of bilateral economic relations”.
For Mr. Sikela, this forum is “an initiative to deepen economic cooperation” between the Czech Republic and Algeria, which dubbed it as “a very promising commercial partner”.
He also underlined the large number of promising opportunities for mutual cooperation in all areas, including energy and mining, infrastructure, transport, agro-food industry, health care, pharmaceutical industry and others.
The Czech Minister expressed his country’s interest in Algeria’s economic development plan, stressing the Czech Republic’s willingness to participate in the realization of this plan.
Expressing his belief that “bilateral trade relations should be strengthened soon”, the same official affirmed that the forum “should lead to the establishment of concrete cooperation relations”.
The first day of the Algeria-Czech Republic business forum was punctuated by several interventions on the business climate in Algeria and investment.
