The Washington Times

                            A Special International Report Prepared by
                           The Washington Times Advertising Department - Published on July 2, 1999
                           [Home Page]

Advertisers

(1) Sonatrach, An International Petroleum Group

(2)Council of Privitisation

(3)Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development

(4)CNEP

(5)Group Touring Club of Algeria

(6)Groupe Enad

(7)Wines from Algeria

(8)Blanky Industry Company

(9)EFG - Hermes

(10)DHL Worldwide Express

(11)Enterprise De Travaux Publics Batiments & Hydraulique

(12)Office National des Aliments du Betail (ONAB)

(13)Hotel El Djazaïr

(14)Halliburton Company

(15)Algeria National Enterprise for Tourism

(16)Investment Promotion, Support and Monitoring Agency, APSI

(17)Hôtel El-Aurassi

(18)Saïdal Group

(19)Mechanical Public Holding

(20)ENCG

(21)Sonatrach, Partnership the strategic choice

pubseal.gif (1985 bytes)

A Special International Report Prepared by The Washington Times
Advertising Department

Written by:
Rod Craig

Propject Director:
Hala Nasreddine

Photography by:
Rod Craig

For more information, call
The Washington Times International Advertising Department
at (202) 636-3035
(202) 635-0103 fax
e-mail: natlad@wt.infi.net

Country rich in resources, civilization, ambition

"The image of Algeria in the last 10 years has hidden several thousands of years of our history - a civilizational depth which is very ancient," commented Minister of Communication and Culture Habib Chawki Hamraoui, who is also the government's official spokesman.

"It has been Phoenician, it has been roman, it was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, conquered by the Ottoman Empire, conquered by France.

But we now have to look to the future. We are involved in stabilizing the country.

During this crisis which has lasted several years the country was closed. It is time that we make contacts again. "We have to learn to live normally again. During the crisis not one western airline landed at Algiers. It's time that we returned to normal relations. "

Algeria is ready to take its place, Hamraoui believes. In doing so what is important is the resources and the ambition of the people.

“Our people have great ambitions. We have one of the highest rates of primary school scholarization in the world.

“This is a great country and it is rich and our ambition is that our people live better and in peace. No power, European or other, can conceive a strategy in this continent putting Algeria on one side. We are the gateway to Africa. But Algeria will turn where her interests lie.

In the construction of the Maghreb (Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Muritania) we have been the most generous, perhaps because we are the richest, perhaps also because we are situated in its center, but the building of one Maghreb is not only an economic construction it is an aspiration of its people.

This country has much in African depth but it is also plunged into the Mediterranean.

At this moment we have a constraint which is the image of Algeria, but we also have another constraint - we haven’t yet got the culture of services - we have to have more hotels, and we have to have a mentality which we haven’t yet acquired.

It is not a problem of tourist products - we offer products unrivaled by others in the Mediterranean. Here in the months of February/March you can swim, you can ski and you can sunbathe.

There are three hours flying time from the north to the south.

"When I talk about the press, I am a lucky minister. We have a free press. we have a one million copies that come out every day . There are laws and texts that guarantee the press and it is protected now.

The foreign correspondents in this country, I think there are 47, - now go around without bodyguards.

For Internet there was formerly only one provider .Now have another and we are going to liberalize this sector.

Algeria is opposite Spain and Europe - 50 minutes from Barcelona, 20 minutes from the Balearic Isles.

We haven’t yet restored our tourist industry. We need to invest a lot for that.

"We have a problem in conserving our heritage. The whole country is an open-air museum.”

This is only country where you can actually touch roman mosaics and statues. There is the biggest concentration of roman remains and mosaics in the world.

We have, and there we should be proud, classified as a national natural park nearly a third of our country, 700,000 square kilometers. There are prehistoric paintings - we have remains that are pre-Pharaonic. This is the country that gave the church St. Augustine.

"As far as visas are concerned we are probably the only Arab country to apply the principal of reciprocity. It has to be so. How can I explain to my people that a European can enter freely but I cannot enter his country? This is the problem that we have in the dialogue with the Europeans.

There is free circulation of goods, of ideas, but not of people. So in today’s world, goods go before men. We don’t want to be wicked but when people talk about the deserts elsewhere, when you talk about the desert in Morocco - they are the size of pocket-handkerchiefs for us. We have no merit. We didn’t do anything for it. It’s a gift from God.

And every morning we should say 'thank you'."

Table of Contents

(1) His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria

(2) Country has resources and potential and is moving toward peace

(3) History

(4) Stability predictable for Algeria

(5) Terrorism is costly - in lives and finances

(6) Political Parties

(7) Despite being free, press sometimes is silenced

(8) Local bidders and foreign investors being courted

(9) Despite previous problems, economic future is bright

(10) Institutions