Paris Donors Round Table in favor of Chad : Algeria willing to take over the implementation of certain feasibility studies for projects in Chad.

APS: Thursday, 07th September 2017

“Algeria is ready to take charge of carrying out certain feasibility studies of projects selected in the National Development Program (NDP) of Chad”, Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel said on Thursday in Paris.

“Algeria remains strongly committed to the completion of these projects which have a direct impact on the opening up of Chad and its development. It is prepared to undertake the completion of certain feasibility studies for projects selected in the National Development Program (PND) for the next five years” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs as the representative of thePresident of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during his intervention at the round table on financing for development in Chad organized Thursday and Friday in Paris.

The meeting, held under the patronage of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno and attended by Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, aims to mobilize Chad’s partners around structuring projects recorded in the PND and to develop synergies to facilitate the diversification of the Chadian economy and enable it to start its growth in various sectors.

Mr. Abdelkader Messahel said in this context that this solidarity action will be in addition to Algeria’s support for more than a decade in Chad in terms of training its students, thus contributing to the strengthening and development of the human resources that this sister country so badly needs.

In this respect, he added, “Algeria grants more than 100 scholarships annually to Chadian nationals to continue their training in Algeria in various sectors”, saying that it remains “ready” to continue this effort and to “strengthen” it more according to the needs of Chad and the capacities in this matter of Algeria.

The Algerian foreign minister stressed that Algeria considers socio-economic development to be the basis of security and stability and is also the most effective means of combating extremist violence and the have taken on a singular dimension in recent years. Such development must therefore remain at the center of the objectives set by the national recovery plans as is the case today in Chad, through the PND and at the heart of international solidarity using a win-win partnership.

For the Minister of Foreign Affairs, this policy would benefit from being consolidated by a regional integration effort aimed at strengthening supranational functional synergies, noting that in order to better exploit this asset whose role was highlighted by NEPAD , the establishment of favorable partnerships for the completion of regional development projects, such as the Trans-Saharan Road, the Algiers-Lagos gas pipeline and the Trans-Saharan fiber-optic dorsal, would be strongly recommended.

He said that these projects, designed “to promote exchanges and integration between the countries of the region, are of strategic importance given their definite impact on the fructification of the potential revealed in the common cross-border areas.”