Algeria Lifts Two-Year Trade Ban on Spain Amid Western Sahara Dispute

"Outward foreign trade operations (of goods and services) to Spain must be processed in accordance with the applicable exchange regulations," states the circular from the Bank of Algeria dated November 6, 2024 and addressed to the directors of the country’s banks. The entry into force of this note is scheduled for this Thursday, November 7, confides a former Algerian diplomat to El Español. In other words, trade relations between Algeria and Spain are now restored, after more than two years of suspension.

Some Spanish businessmen who had maintained their activities in Algeria despite the suspension have had this information confirmed with the Ministry of the Interior and the Bank of Spain. Algeria had suspended the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation with Spain on June 8, 2022, in reaction to the Spanish government’s support for the Moroccan autonomy plan. The next day, the country of Abdelmadjid Tebboune suspended trade in goods and services to and from Spain, with the exception of gas.

Trade relations between the two countries had resumed in certain sectors on January 14, when the Algerian Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABEF) sent banks an information note authorizing the import from Spain of poultry inputs, namely chicks and hatching eggs. A month later, the import of fresh red meat from Spain was also authorized.

While it has lifted its trade blockade with Spain, Algeria has suspended its trade with France. The measure came into effect on Tuesday, according to an Algerian newspaper. "With France, only raw materials will be able to pass," say Algerian sources. The measure comes a week after Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to Rabat, a "historic" trip during which the French president reiterated his support for the Moroccan autonomy plan, in a speech before the Moroccan parliament.