Foreign Minister Westerwelle in Algeria
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Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle meets his Algerian counterpart Mourad Medelci.
(© picture-alliance/dpa)
On 7 January, on the first stop of his trip to North Africa, Foreign Minister Westerwelle encouraged the Algerian Government to undertake further reforms. After visiting Algeria he will continue on to Libya and Tunisia in order to gain a firsthand impression of the state of democratic change in the region a year after the start of the Arab Spring.
In Algiers on Saturday, Westerwelle first met with his Algerian counterpart, Mourad Medelci. Also on his agenda were meetings with Minister of Industry Mohamed Benmeradi, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahya and Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, the winner of the 2011 German Book Trade Peace Prize.
Westerwelle said Minister Medelci had told him about the political and democratic reforms that had been launched in Algeria. “We encourage Algeria to continue along this path,” he said after meeting with Medelci, “because political participation and economic prospects are two sides of the same coin – they flourish hand in hand.”
Westerwelle said that he and his counterpart had also discussed the potential of German-Algerian economic relations in areas such as medical technology and – especially – renewable energies. According to the Minister, the energy project Desertec could become a milestone for cooperation between Europe and North Africa.
Minister Westerwelle also welcomed Algeria’s announcement that European election observers would be invited to the country’s next elections. This decision, he said, sent “an important message of transparency”.
To date, Algeria has been one of the countries less affected by the political upheaval in North Africa; it has not, however, been entirely untouched. Here too, protests took place in early 2011, in response to which President Bouteflika lifted the state of emergency that had been in place for 19 years and pledged reforms.
Assistance in a partnership of equals
Germany actively supports the democratization process in the Arab world. As part of the transformation partnership, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as other countries such as Jordan and Morocco, are receiving support for democratic change. This assistance is targeted to the countries’ needs and priorities, and primarily concerns three areas:
- Building democratic structures
- Strengthening civil society as the true engine of the Arab Spring
- Providing better opportunities to people in these countries through good economic conditions
Westerwelle’s visit thus aims to encourage political leaders to undertake lasting reforms and engage in greater regional cooperation. The visit is also focusing on the issue of how Germany and the European Union can best support the region’s transition to democracy.
Updated: 10 January 2012
Source: FFO
