Closing remarks by H.E Mr Abderrahmane Benguerrah, Ambassador of Algeria.

I would like to express my great pleasure meeting with the business communities of our two countries and I really appreciated the debate we had today.

In my point of view, what we can retain from this webinar round table could be summarised as follows:

• The new economic growth vision of the Algerian authorities, based on structural reforms, aims at creating an economic model based on sustainability, freedom of investment and entrepreneurship, competitiveness and less dependence on oil and gas. This vision considers foreign investments as central to its efforts to modernise the industrial base and other economic structures of the country and to encourage the transfer of know-how and technologies. The perspective of creating an African Free Trade Area should be considered as an appealing opportunity to British and Algerian firms given the competitive position of Algeria within the African market.
• The potential for economic, trade and investment cooperation between Algeria and the United Kingdom is great and there is  a clear will of the the authorities of both countries to elevate it further  ;
• The Algerian and British Governments share the objective and the approach to diversify and strengthen further their economic and trade cooperation and many fields are identified as priorities in this respect.
• The new context and changes in both countries: Brexit in the UK and political and economic reforms in Algeria, should be seen as an opportunity to further explore new horizons within a win-win and long term partnerships;
• Many business opportunities exist in Algeria that are now more attractive with the important reforms adopted by the government. I could mention the Start-ups, High Techs, Finance, Education, Health and Pharmaceutical, renewable energy, Agriculture and Tourism;
• I believe that the British businesses have great comparative advantages that qualify them to succeed in Algeria. They have fantastic tools and there are bilateral agreements to reinforce their presence in Algeria.
• I also understand that more efforts should be displayed to promote contacts and networking between the business communities of our two countries. In this regard, I am particularly grateful to Lady Olga and Lord Risby for the fantastic initiatives that they have been launching for many years to bring Algerian and British businesses together.
• I, also, would like to reaffirm that the Embassy remains available to help and assist companies and businessmen from both sides to explore opportunities of investment, trade and joint ventures. We have a dynamic Trade Counsellor at our Embassy; please feel free to contact him for any purpose or information.

Finally, I would like to reiterate my warmest thanks to the organizers of this meeting and all participants for their time.

Thank you.