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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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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.