The European Union (EU) and Algeria have recently signed a cooperation agreement under which 70 million euro ($63 million) are to be distributed among 50 rural municipalities in northeast Algeria. The funds will be directed towards poverty reduction programs through education, health, infrastructure and job creation projects.
The social and economic cooperation accord follows the signing of the EU-Algeria association agreement on April 23, 2002. The agreement establishes a framework for deepening bilateral relations, by committing both sides to further liberalization of bilateral trade. It provides for the gradual removal of import duties on EU industrial products over twelve years, as well as immediate liberalization for a great number of Algerian agricultural products. Algeria is to reciprocate with substantial tariff cuts on EU agricultural exports.
The new EU-Algeria Association Agreement is the seventh of a series of similar accords between the EU and the countries of the region. Inspired by the 1995 Barcelona Declaration, they form the basis of a new Euro-Mediterranean Partnership covering security, economic, and social relations, aiming for the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
