Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika held two meetings on Monday.
Berlusconi’s official visit to Algeria is within the framework of strengthening Algerian-Italian relations in various domains.
The visit comes within the prolongation of the Algero-Italian joint meeting, which was held last April in Algiers, and during which a protocol of agreement on the development of bilateral cooperation linked to the small and medium enterprises and the small medium industries was signed, the Algerien Presse Service said.
The Italian premier’s two-day visit is the first of its kind for an Italian official of such rank in over a decade.
Accompanying Berlusconi, who also serves as foreign minister, are a number of officials in the Italian government as well as business figures and company CEO's.
Rome is one of the main trade partners with Algiers, exporting nearly two billion dollars worth of production yearly to the European country.
Italy is also the first nation to import over three billion dollars worth of gas from Algeria, and hopes to build another pipeline from Algeria through the Mediterranean sea similar to the one built in the 80’s to transport gas from the Algerian desert to the island of Sardinia in the south of Italy, by way of Tunisia, KUNA added. (Albawaba.com)
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