Algeria Announces Free Trade Zones with Sahel Countries, Rivaling Morocco’s Atlantic Project

"I announce to my fellow presidents that in 2024, Algeria will see the creation of free trade zones with the brotherly countries starting with Mauritania, then the Sahel countries, Mali and Niger, in addition to Tunisia and Libya." This is how Abdelmadjid Tebboune spoke on Tuesday by videoconference, quoted in a press release at the 41st meeting of the Steering Committee of NEPAD Heads of State and Government. He also called "for the support of initiatives aimed at promoting development in Africa, particularly projects related to infrastructure and industrial transformation, as they are linked to the establishment of security and the achievement of the desired development."

He also assured that his country "is determined to achieve the objectives of economic development and continental integration and emphasizes the importance of working to improve the level of efficiency of African economic integration processes."

This integration particularly concerns "the improvement of infrastructure by multiplying public-private partnerships and making use of national resources", but also "the use of development funds and other innovative financing tools, the improvement of regional production and trade networks by strengthening production capacities and the continuation of efforts to strengthen the role of the industrial sector," said the Algerian head of state in his speech, also recalling the "major continental-scale projects" launched by his country, including the trans-Saharan road linking six African countries, and the road project linking the city of Tindouf in Algeria to the city of Zouerate in Mauritania.

This announcement is synonymous with an Algerian response to the main cooperation project between Morocco and Mali aimed at connecting the Sahel to the Atlantic via the Sahara. Presented in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad on December 23 in Marrakech, this Moroccan project aims to transform the economies of the Sahel, improve the lives of its populations and promote security in the region by connecting the Sahel countries to the Atlantic. A project that frightens Algeria. Recently, the Algerian intelligence services have warned Algerian leaders against the consequences of the Morocco-Mali rapprochement, two countries with which Algiers no longer maintains good relations.