Algeria’s Tebboune in China to push bid to join Brics

Leader of North African nation made a similar trip to Russia a month ago

Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune arrives in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Algerian Presidency

Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune has arrived in Beijing on an official state visit as the North African country attempts to advance its bid to join the Brics group.

The five-day visit, which began on Monday, is at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and comes a month after a similar trip to Russia.

It is the first trip to China by an Algerian head of state since 2006, when former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was in power.

The visit aims to consolidate “solid and rooted relations, as well as strengthen economic co-operation between the two countries”, the Algerian presidency said last Wednesday.

The North African nation submitted its application to join the economic group last November.

Mr Tebboune will address the application during the visit, which comes before the start of the economic bloc’s summit in South Africa in August.

The economic bloc was set up in June 2009 as Bric, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, with South Africa joining a year later.

The organisation brought together powerful developing economies and held the promise of acting as a counterweight to the G7 group, with the view of creating a new financial order to help the developing world.

Algeria and China share a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed in 2014 that aims to foster political dialogue through regular co-ordination, programming and an evaluation of co-operation mechanisms.

The two also share an affiliated co-operation plan that remains in place until 2026 and which covers several vital sectors such as agriculture, energy, health, science and the space industry.

Several Chinese companies, namely in the energy and construction sectors, operate in Algeria thanks to this partnership.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in April that Brics was open to new members.

Several other countries have previously expressed their interest in joining the group, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and Argentina.