By RFIPalled on 25-01-2019Modified on 25-01-2019 at 20:56

The head of the Russian diplomacy ends this Saturday, January 26 a tour of 4 days in the Maghreb. Sergei Lavrov arrived in Tunisia last night after staying in Morocco and Algeria. A trip that underlines Moscow's desire to stay in competition with major international economies on the African continent.

Sergey Lavrov's stay in the Maghreb is dominated by economic aspects. The head of the Russian diplomacy noted that trade with Algeria has already exceeded 4.5 billion dollars.

Algeria is by far the first African client of Russian arms. And in recent years, Algerians are increasing their imports of Russian wheat more and more. The joint economic commission between the two countries will also meet from Monday to Wednesday (28-30 January 2019) in Moscow.

Diplomatic and strategic side, before going to Rabat, Sergei Lavrov and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelkader Messahel, raised the issue of Western Sahara - Algiers supports the Polisario, which claims the independence of this territory. But in Rabat, Sergei Lavrov and his Moroccan hosts spoke little about an issue that is angry, to focus on the continuation of economic conventions signed three years ago, during a visit of King Mohamed VI to Moscow . The most important one, which is still negotiating, concerns the establishment of a free trade agreement between Russia and Morocco.

As for Tunisia, it wants to develop joint projects with Russia, particularly in the aviation and automotive industries, in the food industry and in tourism.

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