Algeria has given the order to restore commercial relations with Spain, interrupted since June 2022. EL ESPAÑOL had access to the document directed by the Bank of Algeria to directors of Algerian banking entities ordering the restoration of commercial and maritime transactions.
The document is dated November 6 and, as a former diplomat of the country explains to this media, it will come into force the next day. Spain’s access to authorizations to trade with Algeria would therefore resume this Thursday.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Bank of Spain have already confirmed this to certain businessmen who have maintained their offices in this Maghreb country over the past two years, despite operating difficulties.
Algeria suspended the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation with Spain on June 8, 2022, following the Spanish government’s support for Morocco in the conflict with Spain. Western Sahara. The next day, direct debits for foreign trade operations of products and services, to and from Spain, were frozen. Only gas exports were maintained.
Previously, in March 2022, Algeria had already withdrawn its ambassador to Spain, who was not sent back until November 2023, a year and a half later.
Bilateral trade has gradually resumed, particularly in certain sectors. On January 14, the Algerian Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABEF) sent banks an information note authorizing the provision of poultry, in this case broiler chicks, as well as hatching eggs in from Spain. And in February, the importation of fresh red meat from Spain was also authorized, according to another ABEF note.
Alongside the reestablishment of commercial relations between Algeria and Spain, banks will not domicile import banking operations originating in and/or coming from France. The measure came into force this Tuesday, according to the Algerian newspaper. Line spacing.
Customs officials have already started informing their customers about the new situation. However, certain Algerian sources consulted assure that “with France they will let raw materials pass and not the rest.”
This measure comes a week after the president’s three-day official visit Emmanuel Macron in Rabat, where he once again reiterated his support for the Moroccan autonomy plan.
Relations with France had already deteriorated since Macron sent a letter to Mohamed VI in July estimating that Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara “is the only basis for reaching an agreement”. a just political solution“. Algiers described this decision as “unexpected, inappropriate and counterproductive”, and recalled its ambassador to Paris “with immediate effect”.
For its part, the French Ministry of Agriculture banned the entry of Algerian chocolate in September. The Mordjanefor not meeting “all the conditions necessary to export to the European Union products containing dairy products intended for consumption”, according to French media. A month later, Reuters reported that Algeria had excluded France from a vast wheat purchasing operation.
Spanish businessmen who operate with Algeria are celebrating the news of the restoration of relations, but with caution. Julio Lebrerofounding partner of the Aecomhel company and manufacturer of public works equipment, strongly affected by the commercial blockade, confirmed to this newspaper that he had a copy of the letter from the Banco d’Algérie to its branches which brings things back to normal, although “officially today is the only thing we know.
The general director of this company in Algeria will meet today with representatives of the National Bank of Algeria to discuss this issue.
In the same way, Algerian businessmen “will bring pro forma invoices to the bank and will test if they really give them direct debit, which is the real key in Algeria”, he explains to EL ESPAÑOL. Alphonse Tapiathe CEO of the Algerian business consultancy Onmicrea. “As these operations work, we will see that the situation is indeed unblocked,” he adds.
“In my opinion, with Algeria, it will be complicated. The opening of trade with Spain is great for public calls for tenders, for operations, for institutional relations, for fairs, for large contracts like that of Técnicas Reunidas or Cepsa However, the operation “It will be difficult, because since November 1, a certificate is required for the resale of products. Its operation will remain complex,” anticipates Alfonso Tapia.
Spanish businessmen are “tired” of triangulating with Marseille, that is, sending products from France to Algeria, for which they had to pay 10%. From now on, it would be the Spaniards who could ask for a fee so that the neighboring country could transit its goods through Spain to arrive in Algeria.
