By Philip Iglauer
Algerian Ambassador to Korea Hocine Sahraoui said at his country’s National Day reception that the Korea-Algeria strategic partnership struck in 2006 has borne fruit.
“The [Korea-Algeria partnership] has made significant progress since we sign it in 2006,” Sahraoui said, at a celebration for his country’s 57th anniversary of national independence in Seoul on Nov. 1.
“Volume of trade tripled since then and, many agreements have been signed in almost all the fields of cooperation, and even, exchanges between people are also gaining momentum presently.”
Bilateral trade increased more than 30 percent to $ 3.5 billion in 2010 from $ 2.6 billion in 2009, according to official statistics.
“Many joint projects have been achieved in a win-win spirit of cooperation and economic actors ― whether public or private and from both sides,” Sahraoui said.
Korea and Algeria established diplomatic relations in 1990.
Algeria has $160 billion in Foreign Exchange Reserves and has dedicated $280 billion in public investment for national development projects.
“Since our independence in 1962, we devoted ourselves to building a country from scratch, and this was not an easy task,” said Sahraoui to a crowded room of Algerian nationals, business people and foreign envoys representing a broad swath of the diplomatic community in Seoul.
Algeria won its independence from France in a bloody internecine conflict lasting eight years from 1954-1962 in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
“Nowadays, we are consolidating the democratic process that we have initiated in 1988 with deep political reforms endeavoring to ensure, permanently, the republican character of the state,” Sahraoui said.
Sahraoui said that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is committed to a body of political reforms that includes ensuring for women 30 percent of seats within elected assemblies on all levels of government.
“Algeria has done it with passion, fervor, great dedication and some hardships as well, to put the country not only on the track of development, but also democracy, an inseparable equation if we want to talk of viable states.”