Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune June 15, both leaders will speak at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 16. Yuri Ushakov, the Aide to the Russian head of state, told reporters.
"Tomorrow the main part of the state visit of the Algerian president will take place in Moscow, full-length negotiations at the highest level," the Kremlin representative said. He noted that the two presidents "will sign a declaration on a deepened strategic partnership between Russia and Algeria." "It will mark the beginning of a new, hopefully more advanced stage in bilateral relations," Ushakov pointed out. He added that during the Algerian president's state visit, "nine joint documents will be concluded."
"The Algerian president will be in St. Petersburg on Friday and, together with our leader, will take part in the plenary session of the SPIEF and present a report there," the Russian presidential aide said.
He drew attention to the fact that the highest in diplomatic protocol status of the visit - state one - implies a rich program. "The president of Algeria arrived in Moscow last night. Today he will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, [Speakers of the Houses of Parliament] Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, and will take part in the Russian-Algerian business forum," Ushakov listed. He specified that the chairman of the Russian part of the bilateral intergovernmental commission, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, will permanently accompany the Algerian president.
"Today the Algerian leader will take part in the opening ceremony of a square in honor of the national Algerian hero Emir Abdelkader," said the aide to the Russian president.
According to him, "the square is small, but cozy and nice, located near Spiridonovka street". "The Algerian side attaches great importance to this event," he noted. Ushakov added that a stone will be laid in the square, which will later serve as the foundation of a monument in honor of the Algerian hero.
Speaking about the talks between Putin and Tebboune, Ushakov said that the talks would be held in the narrow and extended formats; the presidents would make statements following them.
Relations between Russia and Algeria
Ushakov drew attention to the fact that Algeria is one of Russia's top three trading partners in Africa, ranking third after Egypt and Morocco. In 2022, trade turnover amounted to $1.7 billion, and in January - March of this year increased by 73.7%. In 2022 the volume of mutual trade in agricultural products and food doubled, exceeding $700 million.
Among the areas of cooperation the Kremlin's representative mentioned energy and pharmaceuticals, recalling that 1 million doses of the vaccine against coronavirus "Sputnik V" were delivered to Algeria, the export of antitumor drugs was established and the production of insulin was implemented with the participation of the Russian side in Algeria.
Ushakov stressed that "special attention is traditionally paid to humanitarian ties, Russia assists in the training of qualified personnel for Algeria". During the years of cooperation about 19 thousand Algerian specialists in various fields were trained, about 1.5 thousand Algerian citizens study in Russian universities.
"During the talks there will be an exchange of views on topical issues of the international agenda with a focus on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa," Ushakov said. He stressed that "Russian-Algerian coordination in multilateral formats and organizations, including in the UN, taking into account the election of Algeria as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2024-2025." "There is a productive joint work within the framework of OPEC+ and the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries," the Kremlin representative added. "The positions of our countries either coincide or are very, very close to each other on most international problems", stated the presidential aide. He stressed that "the talks will also address the general framework of the relations between Russia and Africa taking into account the summit to be held at the end of July". "And various aspects of the Ukrainian crisis will be discussed," Ushakov specified.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS