China and Algeria to work more closely on energy and petrochemicals, says Xi

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is in China for a state visit this week

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune after a signing ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. EPA

China and Algeria signed several agreements on infrastructure, petrochemicals and energy on Tuesday as part of a state visit by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Beijing.

China's President Xi Jinping described Algeria as a natural partner and said the two countries will also forge deeper ties in the minerals and agriculture sectors, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.

The North African nation has strategic importance to China given its location on the Mediterranean Sea. Relations between Beijing and the governing National Liberation Front go back to the late 1950s when Algeria sought independence from France.

Xi said both sides will also build out co-operation in aerospace, nuclear energy, and renewable energy, as well as cultivating new points for co-operation.

After the meeting, China signed a flurry of bilateral agreements with Algeria, including deals on telecoms, sustainable urban development and trade, according to CCTV.

In 2014, the countries upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, with Algeria being the first Arab nation to form such a partnership with China.

Tebboune, on his first visit to China since becoming Algeria's president in 2019, said his country is willing to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership with China to assist Algeria's economic and social development.

“ (Algeria) is willing to work closely with China on strategic co-operation in international and regional affairs,” Tebboune said.

Algeria, Africa's largest natural gas exporter, has sought to join the BRICS economic group that includes Russia and China and that positions itself as an alternative to Western hegemony.

Mr Tebboune thanked Mr Xi for China's support in Algeria's bids to join the group and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, saying “China is our most important friend and will help us achieve national development”.

China has made sizeable investments in the Algerian energy sector, including a production-sharing contract between Sinopec and Algeria's Sonatrach.

A delegation of Sonatrach executives visited China in May to discuss energy co-operation and sign a gas supply contract with Chinese partners, according to the Algeria Press Service.

BRICS membership has been a long-term foreign policy goal for Tebboune, with the president saying last year that his country meets “a good part” of the economic criteria for joining the bloc.

Mr Tebboune participated in a BRICS virtual summit at the end of June when Russian President Vladimir Putin called on leaders of the group to co-operate in the face of “selfish actions” from the West.

The 77-year-old Algerian leader visited Russia last month, reaching an agreement with Putin to deepen their two countries' “strategic partnership”.

Algeria, a major gas supplier to energy-hungry Europe, has maintained warm ties with its European neighbours and Moscow, despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Tebboune comes to Beijing after a state visit to Russia last month, during which he appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to support Algeria becoming a member of BRICS, a group of emerging markets comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.