ID :
169890
Tue, 03/22/2011 - 08:24
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http://m.oananews.org//node/169890
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Lavrov visits Algeria to discuss Libya, military and energy ties
MOSCOW, March 22 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to discuss in Algeria on Tuesday the situation around Libya as well as military-technical and energy cooperation.
The foreign minister will meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci. The situation in Libya as well as the situation in the Middle East on the whole will be in the focus of attention at talks.
Some analysts believe that Algeria may become a next trouble spot
after Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen. According to observers, social tensions in Algeria are rather high. The unemployment level is close to 70 percent.
The opposition National Coordination for Change and Democracy tries to organize meetings, seeking liberalization of political and information space, discharge from prison of people arrested for taking part in protest actions, social justice and the settlement of the employment problem.
However, experts believe that national protests are partially
restrained because of memories about opposition protests quelled by the Algerian leadership at the end of the 1980s.
Fearing to aggravate the already difficult situation, the Algerian
president has announced large-scale reforms in the political,
administrative, judicial and financial spheres. Observers mark another
positive change in the political situation in the country - the lifting of emergency rule, in force since 1992. The fight of authorities against radical Islamists claimed then the lives of over 200,000 people.
Algeria is a country which has considerable authority and influence in the Arab world, in Africa, the Mediterranean and on the international scene. Besides, Algeria is among the three countries along with India and China, with which Russia seriously develops military-technical cooperation.
According to analysts, Russia is extremely uninterested in
destabilization of the situation in Algeria. One must also bear in mind that at the present time Algeria is the third biggest supplier of gas to EU countries after Russia and Norway, exporting 62 billion cubic meters of gas.
Apart from bilateral issues, the Russian foreign minister will discuss with the Algerian leadership key international problems, in particular ways to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict and the problem of the Western Sahara.
"A set of questions of bilateral relations is very extensive and
includes cooperation in the areas of energy, infrastructure construction and high technologies. Algeria for past several years has been among the three major partners of Russia on the African continent", Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich noted.
"New challenges and threats, first of all terrorism and trans-national organized crime, are also on the agenda," he added.
The foreign minister will meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci. The situation in Libya as well as the situation in the Middle East on the whole will be in the focus of attention at talks.
Some analysts believe that Algeria may become a next trouble spot
after Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen. According to observers, social tensions in Algeria are rather high. The unemployment level is close to 70 percent.
The opposition National Coordination for Change and Democracy tries to organize meetings, seeking liberalization of political and information space, discharge from prison of people arrested for taking part in protest actions, social justice and the settlement of the employment problem.
However, experts believe that national protests are partially
restrained because of memories about opposition protests quelled by the Algerian leadership at the end of the 1980s.
Fearing to aggravate the already difficult situation, the Algerian
president has announced large-scale reforms in the political,
administrative, judicial and financial spheres. Observers mark another
positive change in the political situation in the country - the lifting of emergency rule, in force since 1992. The fight of authorities against radical Islamists claimed then the lives of over 200,000 people.
Algeria is a country which has considerable authority and influence in the Arab world, in Africa, the Mediterranean and on the international scene. Besides, Algeria is among the three countries along with India and China, with which Russia seriously develops military-technical cooperation.
According to analysts, Russia is extremely uninterested in
destabilization of the situation in Algeria. One must also bear in mind that at the present time Algeria is the third biggest supplier of gas to EU countries after Russia and Norway, exporting 62 billion cubic meters of gas.
Apart from bilateral issues, the Russian foreign minister will discuss with the Algerian leadership key international problems, in particular ways to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict and the problem of the Western Sahara.
"A set of questions of bilateral relations is very extensive and
includes cooperation in the areas of energy, infrastructure construction and high technologies. Algeria for past several years has been among the three major partners of Russia on the African continent", Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich noted.
"New challenges and threats, first of all terrorism and trans-national organized crime, are also on the agenda," he added.
