Tebboune to Visit Beijing, Signaling Qualitative Leap in Algerian-Chinese Relations

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
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Tebboune to Visit Beijing, Signaling Qualitative Leap in Algerian-Chinese Relations

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (Algerian presidency)

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is expected to make an official visit to China before the end of the year.

Algerian Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General Amar Belani discussed the visit on Wednesday with Chinese Ambassador in Algiers Li Jian.

Bilani and Jian stressed the need to prepare Tebboune’s “important visit”.

The Ministry said the visit is “expected to achieve a “qualitative shift” in Algerian-Chinese relations.

It added that the two officials stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of major structural projects, included in the 2nd Five-Year Plan of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation (2022-2026), the Executive Plan for the joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Three-Year Plan (2022-2024) of cooperation in strategic areas.

Projects include the establishment of the port of Cherchell Center, the development of the Gara Djebilet iron mine in Tindouf, the exploitation and processing of phosphate in Tebessa and Oued Kebrit in Soug Ahras, and the development of the zinc and lead mine in Bejaia.

While meeting with Bilani, the Chinese ambassador welcomed the progress made by Algeria in improving the business climate and investment in the country.

He expressed the major interest of Chinese economic operators in concluding partnerships with their Algerian counterparts, especially in view of the promising opportunities offered by the new law on investment that ensures legislative stability and a better vision for foreign investors.

Tebboune will pay a state visit to Russia in May at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

He will discuss cooperation with Russia in the military field, despite pressures from US Congressmen on the Algerian government to force Algiers to abandon a large-value arms deal expected to be signed during the visit.

Tebboune and Putin had held telephone talks in February to discuss “ways to boost bilateral partnership, including in the energy sector.”

They also discussed the upcoming Algerian-Russian Joint Commission meeting that will be held later this year.

Last year, reports said Tebboune was expected to visit Moscow in December to sign a strategic partnership agreement on economic and military affairs.

The agreement called for buying Russian weapons worth millions of dollars. However, no official party had confirmed the reports and since the visit did not take place as scheduled, analysts said it was “canceled due to US pressure.”



US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
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US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)

US and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday.
As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people, Palestinian medics said.
Qatar, the US and Egypt are making a major push to reach a deal to halt fighting in the 15-month conflict and free remaining hostages held by the Hamas group before President Joe Biden leaves office.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned there will be "hell to pay", if the hostages are not released by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said the absence of a deal so far did not mean the talks were going nowhere and said this was the most serious attempt so far to reach an accord.
"There are extensive negotiations, mediators and negotiators are talking about every word and every detail. There is a breakthrough when it comes to narrowing old existing gaps but there is no deal yet," he told Reuters, without giving further details.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar-Tal said Israel was fully committed to reaching an agreement to return its hostages from Gaza but faces obstruction from Hamas.
The two sides have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
SEVERE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
On Thursday, the death toll from Israel's military strikes included eight Palestinians killed in a house in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, where Israeli forces have operated for more than three months. Nine others, including a father and his three children, died in two separate airstrikes on two houses in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.
There was no Israeli military comment on the two incidents.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza and says it has facilitated the distribution of hundreds of truckloads of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to warehouses and shelters over the past week.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops had recovered the body of Israeli Bedouin hostage Youssef Al-Ziyadna, along with evidence that was still being examined suggesting his son Hamza, taken on the same day, may also be dead.
"We will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.