Turkey, Algeria aim for $5 billion trade

ALGIERS

Turkey and Algeria are seeking to forge closer business ties to boost bilateral trade volume to $5 billion while agreeing to jointly build a petrochemicals plant in the Turkish province of Adana.

“We have decided to increase our bilateral trade volume to $5 billion as soon as possible. Also, with the joint declaration we signed, we have established a high-level cooperation council between our two countries,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 26, addressing the Turkey-Algeria Business Forum held in Algiers.

Erdoğan visited Algeria on Jan. 26 as part of his three-nation Africa tour which also covers Senegal and Gambia.

“We see Algeria as a friendly and brotherly country as well as one of our strategic partners in North Africa. Algeria is one of Turkey’s most important gateways to the Maghreb and Africa,” Erdoğan said.

Underlining the need for a free trade agreement between Turkey and Algeria, Erdoğan said: “I believe it would be felicitous to begin negotiations for a free trade agreement to further deepen our economic relations.”

Highlighting Turkey’s progress in the defense industry, Erdoğan also voiced Turkey’s desire to further cooperation with Algeria in the defense industry.

He met with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the Algerian capital to discuss possible cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, defense and tourism.

The latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed that Turkey shipped $1.74 billion worth of goods to Algeria while the country’s imports with its trading partners stood at around $656 million in January-November 2019.

In 2018, the bilateral trade volume amounted to $3.2 billion.

Petrochemicals plant

Turkey and Algeria will jointly establish a petrochemicals plant in Adana on the Mediterranean coast, Algerian Energy Minister Mohammed Arkab told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Turkey’s Rönesans Holding and Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach will take part in the project, Arkab said on the margins of the Turkey-Algeria Business Forum.

The petrochemical facility is estimated to cost some $1.4 billion, according to the Algerian minister, who also said stakes of Rönesans Holding in Sonatrach in the project will be 66 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

The construction of the plant will be completed in two years and the facility is expected to become operational in July 2022, Arkab said.

Sonatarch will supply the planned plant with 450 tons of propane that will be used to produce polypropylene, he added.