Italy and Algeria boost cooperation with new security and business deals
ROME (Reuters) -Italy and Algeria agreed to work together to fight terrorism and control migration during an intergovernmental meeting in Rome on Wednesday, while companies signed off on deals in sectors including energy and telecommunications.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the 17th-century Villa Doria Pamphili, after a trip to Algiers by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in March.
"Our bilateral relations have reached a level of intensity and solidity that had never been achieved before," Meloni told a news conference after the meeting.
Algeria is Rome's leading trading partner in Africa, with trade worth almost 14 billion euros ($16.4 billion) while Italian investments there amount to 8.5 billion euros, Meloni's government said.
"I express my confidence in what we have achieved at this summit. The agreements signed open broad horizons for a model strategic partnership that reflects the depth of our relations," Algerian President Tebboune said.
A total of 13 agreements have been signed between the governments of Italy and Algeria, including one on fighting terrorism and its financing. It was not specified which threats the countries were focused on.
The two nations have also agreed on a plan to coordinate the search and rescue operations for migrants who attempt the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Europe. Meloni's right-wing government was elected in 2022 on a mandate to curb migrant arrivals.
BUSINESS TIES
On the business side, Italian energy group Eni this month signed a production sharing contract with oil and gas company Sonatrach worth $1.3 billion to explore and develop hydrocarbons in Algeria.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the two companies signed an additional agreement to strengthen their cooperation.
"We are very satisfied with the collaboration between Eni and its counterpart Sonatrach, which will become even stronger," Meloni told reporters.
Eni buys gas from Sonatrach under a long-term contract that has made the north African country one of the key fuel suppliers for Italy after Rome severed ties with Russia's Gazprom following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
A separate deal will involve Submarine cable company Sparkle, a unit of Telecom Italia (TIM), which is set to be sold to a consortium led by Italy's Treasury later this year.
Sparkle will sign a preliminary agreement with Algerie Telecom for a new subsea cable connecting the two countries.
"Algeria is a strategic partner, and we are working hard to make this partnership ever broader, stronger and more diversified," Foreign Minister Tajani said during a speech at a business forum with over 400 companies from the two nations.
($1 = 0.8521 euros)
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Additional reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Toby Chopra and Keith Weir)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Disgraced ex-congressman Santos begins 7-year prison term
FAIRTON, NEW JERSEY: Disgraced former US congressman George Santos surrendered to authorities on Friday to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence. The 37-year-old ex-lawmaker, expelled from Congress in 2023, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft after misusing donor funds for personal luxuries. Santos reported to the federal prison in Fairton, New Jersey, as confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons. Prosecutors argued that his social media activity contradicted his claims of remorse, leading Judge Joanna Seybert to impose a sentence of seven years and three months in April. The downfall of the Long Island representative followed revelations that he fabricated nearly his entire background, including false claims about his education, religion, and career. Elected to the House of Representatives in 2022, Santos was indicted a year later for stealing campaign donors' identities and misusing their credit cards. A congressional ethics investigation found that Santos diverted funds for Botox treatments, subscriptions to the OnlyFans adult website, luxury Italian goods, and vacations to the Hamptons and Las Vegas. His elaborate deceptions included falsely stating he worked for Goldman Sachs, was Jewish, and had been a college volleyball star. The congressional probe concluded that Santos 'fraudulently exploited every aspect of his House candidacy,' leading to his historic expulsion. He became only the third lawmaker ejected from Congress since the Civil War, joining a list previously reserved for traitors and convicted criminals. - AFP
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Pressing times for espresso
A serving of espresso at the Lavazza Museum in Turin; and (pic, below) breakfast customers at Caffe Baratti & Milano, inside the Galleria Subalpina in Turin. The high price of beans has put coffee bars in a bind in Italy, where the drink is a ritual and customers demand cheap espresso. — Fabio Bucciarelli/The New York Times Company ANDREA Consilvio did something this spring that he called 'a little crazy' – he bought an old and well-known coffee bar in the northwestern Italian city of Turin, his hometown. Brewing coffee for coffee-obsessed Italians, the people who invented espresso and the commercial machines and stovetop pots to make it, might hardly seem like a leap of faith.
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Botswana implements initiatives, reforms to counter U.S. tariff impacts: bank official
GABORONE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is implementing several initiatives and structural reforms to mitigate the potential adverse effects of U.S. tariffs on the southern African country, a Bank of Botswana official said on Friday. "Despite this challenge of U.S. tariffs on Botswana diamonds, there are several government initiatives and structural reforms, which are expected to improve the business environment and strengthen fiscal resilience," said Innocent Molalapata, director of Research and Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Botswana. During an economic media briefing, Molalapata said the initiatives include tax review and revenue maximization, enhanced public financing and debt management, as well as the Botswana Transformation Economic Program, a national blueprint to reshape the country's economy from being consumption-driven to investment-oriented and innovation-led. Meanwhile, Molalapata said Botswana's real gross domestic product is expected to contract by 0.4 percent in 2025, reflecting the prevailing unfavorable economic conditions, the weaker-than-expected economic growth, and the impacts of U.S. tariffs. Botswana faces a 37 percent tariff on exports to the United States. According to Daily News Botswana, President Duma Boko said in June that the tariff imposed on Botswana worsened the already bleak future faced by the diamond industry, and the U.S. tariff tensions had been a daunting challenge, likely to hinder efforts to grow the African economy. A World Bank report in April suggested that diamond exports account for more than 90 percent of Botswana's total exports.
