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Algeria, China Sign 19 Cooperation Agreements During Tebboune's Visit to Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune witness the signing of cooperation agreements in Beijing. (AFP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune witness the signing of cooperation agreements in Beijing. (AFP)
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Algeria, China Sign 19 Cooperation Agreements During Tebboune's Visit to Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune witness the signing of cooperation agreements in Beijing. (AFP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune witness the signing of cooperation agreements in Beijing. (AFP)

Algiers and Beijing signed 19 cooperation agreements on Tuesday during Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s visit to China where he met with President Xi Jinping.

Tebboune arrived on Monday in China for a state visit. He was accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and businessmen, signaling a new dynamism in Algeria's relations with its historic partners, including Russia.

The Algeria Press Service (APS) said the agreements include cooperation across sectors like railway transportation, technology transfer, and agricultural collaboration.

The two countries agreed on forming an expert team to encourage economic and investment collaboration.

The agreements also included a trade cooperation treaty and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Chinese Academy of Governance and the Algerian Ministry of Interior and Local Authorities.

They also signed an MoU for technical cooperation in animal and plant quarantine.

The agreements included an executive program for cooperation and exchange in scientific research, an MoU for judiciary sector collaboration, and another on cooperation in social development and the renewable and hydrogen energy sectors.

Algerian government sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministerial talks focused on developing renewable energies and enhancing capacities by supporting the Algerian project on applied research with renewable energies.

Ahead of signing the agreements, Xi received Tebboune and his accompanying delegation at Beijing's Great Hall of the People to discuss bilateral relations, according to the APS.

Tebboune congratulated Xi on his re-election as Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party and expressed his gratitude for China's support for Algeria's bid to join the BRICS group.

Algeria imported $105 billion worth of goods and services from China between 2003 and 2022. The imports stood at $400 million in 2003, rising to $8 billion in 2022.

Tebboune visited Moscow a month ago and signed several agreements with President Vladimir Putin.

At the time, Algerian newspapers highlighted the deep bilateral relations with Beijing, which date back to the time of Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

Late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was the last Algerian president to visit China back in 2008.

China was among the first countries to recognize the independence of Algeria in 1962, and during the 1954-1962 revolution, Beijing supported the Algerian Interim Government and its efforts to discuss the “Algerian cause” before the UN and various international bodies.

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Arab World

Gazans Struggle to Find Water as Clean Sources Become Increasingly Scarce

Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
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Gazans Struggle to Find Water as Clean Sources Become Increasingly Scarce

Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Two boy sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents have lost their main source of clean water in the past week after supplies from Israel's water utility were cut by the Israeli army's renewed offensive, municipal authorities in the territory said.

Many now have to walk, sometimes for miles, to get a small water fill after the Israeli military's bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza City's eastern Shejaia neighborhood, in the north of the Strip, damaged the pipeline operated by state-owned Mekorot.

"Since morning, I have been waiting for water," said 42-year-old Gaza woman Faten Nassar. "There are no stations and no trucks coming. There is no water. The crossings are closed. God willing, the war will end safely and peacefully."

Israel's military said in a statement it was in contact with the relevant organizations to coordinate the repair of what it called a malfunction of the northern pipeline as soon as possible.

It said a second pipeline supplying southern Gaza was still operating, adding that the water supply system "is based on various water sources, including wells and local desalination facilities distributed throughout the Gaza Strip".

Israel ordered Shejaia residents to evacuate last week as it launched an offensive that has seen several districts bombed. The military has said previously it was operating against "terror infrastructure" and had killed a senior militant leader.

The northern pipeline had been supplying 70% of Gaza City's water since the destruction of most of its wells during the war, municipal authorities say.

"The situation is very difficult and things are getting more complicated, especially when it comes to people's daily lives and their daily water needs, whether for cleaning, disinfecting, and even cooking and drinking," said Husni Mhana, the municipality's spokesperson.

"We are now living in a real thirst crisis in Gaza City, and we could face a difficult reality in the coming days if the situation remains the same."

WORSENING WATER CRISIS

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have become internally displaced by the war, with many making daily trips on foot to fill plastic containers with water from the few wells still functioning in remoter areas - and even these do not guarantee clean supplies.

Water for drinking, cooking and washing has increasingly become a luxury for Gaza residents following the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, whose fighters carried out the deadliest attack in decades on Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people in southern Israel and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign, Palestinian authorities have said.

Many residents across the enclave queue for hours to get one water fill, which usually is not enough for their daily needs.

"I walk long distances. I get tired. I am old, I’m not young to walk around every day to get water," said 64-year-old Adel Al-Hourani.

The Gaza Strip's only natural source of water is the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza and into Israel.

But its salty tap water is severely depleted, with up to 97% deemed unfit for human consumption due to salinity, over-extraction and pollution.

The Palestinian Water Authority stated that most of its wells had been rendered inoperable during the war.

On March 22, a joint statement by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics and the Water Authority said more than 85% of water and sanitation facilities and assets in Gaza were completely or partially out of service.

Palestinian and United Nations officials said most of Gaza's desalination plants were either damaged or had stopped operations because of Israel's power and fuel cuts.

"Due to the extensive damage incurred by the water and sanitation sector, water supply rates have declined to an average of 3-5 liters per person per day," the statement said.

That was far below the minimum 15 liters per person per day requirement for survival in emergencies, according to the World Health Organization indicators, it added.