The 5th session of the Saudi-Algerian Joint Commission began here on Saturday, under the co-chairmanship of the Minister of Commerce, Osama Faqih, and the Algerian Minister of Finance, Mohammed Terbash.
Addressing the inaugural session, Faqih stressed the importance of enhancing commercial cooperation between the Kingdom and Algeria, and said that the value of trade exchange between the two countries did not surpass SR52 million in 2001.
Faqih lauded agreements signed by the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the Algerian National Bank, and shed light on the role played by the SFD to finance development projects in Algeria by the provision of soft loans. “In the past two decades, the SFD lent over SR1 billion to Algeria to finance a number of important development projects in the country,” Faqih said.
He said that the Kingdom and Algeria have recently agreed to promote cooperation in the fields of Islamic works and endowments and sport and youth. Faqih expressed his hope that it would be possible to sign a cooperation agreement in information and education spheres, and an accord for technical cooperation between the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) and the Algerian Institute for Measurements.
Source: SPA
