The Algerian Minister of Mines Mourad Hanifi received last Saturday in Algiers a senior official of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs of China. Geology, engineering training, industrial investments: the two parties outlined the contours of an expanded mining cooperation, in a context of accelerated strategic rapprochement between the two countries.
The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Mines and Mining Industry, in the presence of the Chinese ambassador to Algeria, Dong Guangli, and sector executives. It brought together Mourad Hanifi and Han Wenxiu, Executive Deputy Minister-Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, as part of a working visit to Algiers.
Minister Hanifi outlined the broad directions of Algeria’s new mining policy, whose central ambition is to make the sector a lever for industrialization, economic diversification and the strengthening of the country’s sovereignty. He reaffirmed the Algerian state’s firm commitment to move the mining sector from the mere stage of raw extraction to that of mastering the global industrial process.
Under the auspices of the Algerian Agency for Investment Promotion, the exchanges highlighted a common will for co-location, with Algerian authorities presenting the advantages of the new investment law to attract Chinese capital into key sectors.
The discussions focused on three concrete axes. First, the strengthening of cooperation between the Chinese Geological Service and the Algerian Geological Service Agency (ASGA), to pool expertise in exploration and mapping of underground resources.
Second, the development of specialized training programs for young Algerian engineers, in partnership with Chinese mining institutions and companies. Third, encouraging Chinese economic operators to invest in mining-industrial projects with high value-added in Algeria.
On this last point, Han Wenxiu reaffirmed the availability of the Chinese authorities to promote a partnership based on the “co-development”, underscoring their commitment to channel Chinese capital toward structuring projects. The figures from the Algerian Agency for Investment Promotion confirm this trend with no fewer than 42 flagship projects backed by Chinese capital, for a total of 4.5 billion dollars, officially registered, marking the advent of an era founded on co-production and technology transfer.
