Algerian companies see Mauritania as the gateway to their products to West Africa (Shutterstock)

Nouakchott - Algeria and Mauritania announced the establishment of a free trade zone at the start of the new year 2024 with the aim of boosting economic cooperation, which has seen qualitative progress over the past four years.

Algeria has previously announced the resumption of barter trade with Mauritania, Mali and Niger, after it was halted in 2020 due to the tense security situation in West Africa's Sahel region.

Algeria is working at an accelerated pace to expand the Mauritanian market, which is a gateway to many African countries, after the Moroccan market has been Mauritania's main supplier for decades.

Road and border crossings

In August 2018, Algeria opened its first border crossing with Mauritania and began completing the 775-kilometer land road linking Algeria's Tindouf province with the Mauritanian city of Zouérat, which was completed last year.

In the midst of the 2020 coronavirus crisis, the two countries succeeded in operating an air bridge to ensure the continuity of trade exchange and economic movement.

In February 2022, the General Administration of the Algerian Maritime Transport Community (GATMA) supervised the operation of the first cruise to be the beginning of the transport of goods through ports, and the journey between the port of Nouakchott and Algeria takes 6 days.

The Algerian interior minister announced the imminent opening of two border crossings in 2024, in which construction work is more than 90% complete.

Algeria seeks to enter the club of exporting countries towards African countries, as it has various industries in the field of pharmaceuticals, construction and works, and agricultural products.

Algerian companies see Mauritania as their gateway to West Africa, whose markets are centres of attraction for investors.

Mauritania also has a huge fish wealth with an estimated annual export capacity of 1.8 million tons, and the latest statistics from the Investment Promotion Agency in Nouakchott recorded that the rate of fish exports did not exceed 1.2 million tons, which means that Mauritania needs economic partners to export marine wealth, and has worked in recent years to develop infrastructure by equipping 4 seaports, namely Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Tanit and Ndiagou.

Mounting in the exchange indicator

After the opening of the border crossing between the two countries in 2018, several agreements were signed between the chambers of commerce and industry in the two countries in order to create economic opportunities and form development poles.

In October 2018, an exhibition of Algerian products was opened in which 170 companies participated, and the volume of trade exchange amounted to about $ 50 million in the same year, and in 2021 the volume reached $ 87 million.

The figures continued to rise, with the value of trade in the first quarter of 2023 reaching about $ 187 million.

In September 2023, the Algerian government opened a branch of Union Bank of Algeria in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott as the first bank Algeria opened abroad.

Through this step, it aims to facilitate the trade movement between the active institutions between the two countries in order to overcome the obstacle of remittances.

Coinciding with the opening of the financial institution, a permanent exhibition of Algerian companies was launched in Nouakchott to learn about the latest Algerian products and draw the attention of Mauritanian suppliers towards them.

Strong relationships

Dr. Hakim Boughrara, an academic and professor at the University of Medea in Algeria, said that the free market between the two countries came as a result of years of constructive consultation and cooperation between the two governments to exploit the vast geographical position between the two countries.

He explained, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the development of border areas goes beyond strengthening trade exchange to the security dimensions by strengthening border controls in which smuggling groups are active.

On strengthening relations between the two neighbours, Boughrara said that trade exchange and the resumption of barter trade will strengthen political relations and unify views on counter-terrorism files in the Sahel region.

Boughrara believes that the strength of bilateral relations is based on respect for the political positions of each party.

Mauritanian President Ould Cheikh Ghazouani visited Algeria in December 2021, during which he and his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune signed memoranda of cooperation.

In September 2022, the Algerian prime minister, along with six of his government ministers, visited Nouakchott and, with his Mauritanian counterpart, chaired the work of the Joint High Commission, which signed 6 agreements covering energy, electricity, minerals and gas.

In an effort to consolidate its position in West Africa, Algeria announced that it had begun to return to barter trade (goods for goods without the need for currencies) with Nouakchott, Mali and Niger in order to facilitate the deepening of influence in their markets.

Promising area

West Africa and the Sahel are a promising region for investments by virtue of the massive discoveries of gas, oil and gold.

Mauritania seeks to remain a link through its ports and land routes between the world and West African countries and the Sahel.

Algeria has also made strides in creating the conditions for expanding its investments in Africa, completing the African Sahel route linking Niger, Chad and Nigeria to its ports.

It completed the road between Tindouf and the Mauritanian city of Zouérat, where iron mines are exported through the port of Nouadhibou, the economic capital.

Boughrara says Algeria has contributed to the fight against poverty in Sahel countries, giving a billion dollars through the Agency for International Development to help the Sahel build facilities to improve public life.

Source : Al Jazeera