Algerian President to Visit China Next Week

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (AFP)
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Algerian President to Visit China Next Week

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (AFP)

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune will visit China next week at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Algeria’s presidency has announced.

The presidency said in a brief statement on Thursday that the visit falls within the framework of boosting solid and deep-rooted relations and strengthening economic cooperation between the two friendly peoples of Algeria and China.

Tebboune's visit to China follows his trip to Russia last month, noting that the Algerian president had previously expressed his country's aspiration to join the BRICS group.

The visit was arranged last March when several technical meetings were held between Algerian and Chinese officials to prepare for the political and economic files discussed during the visit.

During his visit to China, the Algerian president aims to develop the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed between Algeria and Beijing in 2014, especially after the tremendous developments in bilateral relations since that period.

Last November, the two countries signed their second five-year strategic partnership plan for 2022-2026.

Since 2018, Algeria has joined the executive plan for the joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the three-year cooperation plan in key fields 2022-2024 between Algeria and China.

Algeria wants to accelerate the implementation of several vital economic projects, with Chinese funding and partnership, including the project to exploit the Gara Djebilet iron deposit in the southwestern province of Tindouf.

A Chinese consortium of three companies signed a memorandum of understanding with an Algerian state company to exploit the iron deposit.

In March, Algeria and China signed a shareholder agreement to invest $7 billion to produce 5.4 million tons of fertilizer per year in the Algerian region of Tebessa.



Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
TT

Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organizations" in Syria under its new leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.

The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighboring Syria from causing new instability in the region.

There is no place for "terrorist organizations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.

Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."

He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.

The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIS, which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.

But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".