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Nouakchott – Algeria and Mauritania announced the establishment of a free trade zone between them at the beginning of the new year 2024, with the aim of advancing economic cooperation, which has witnessed qualitative progress over the past four years.
Algeria had previously announced the resumption of barter trade with Mauritania, Mali, and Niger, after it stopped in 2020 due to the tense security conditions in the Sahel region of West Africa.
Algeria is working at an accelerated pace to expand the Mauritanian market, which is considered a gateway to many African countries, after the Moroccan market remained the main supplier to Mauritania for decades.
Road and border crossings
In August 2018, Algeria opened the first border crossing with Mauritania, and began construction of the 775-kilometre-long land road linking the Algerian state of Tindouf to the Mauritanian city of Zouerate. Its final works were completed last year.
In the midst of the Corona crisis in 2020, the two countries succeeded in operating an air bridge to ensure continuity of trade exchange and economic movement.
In February 2022, the General Administration of the Algerian Maritime Transport Association (GATMA) supervised the operation of the first sea voyage to be the beginning of the transport of goods through the ports. The journey between the port of Nouakchott and Algeria takes 6 days.
The Algerian Minister of the Interior announced the imminent opening of two border crossings in 2024, with construction work on them more than 90% complete.
Algeria seeks to enter the club of exporting countries to African countries, as it possesses various industries in the field of pharmaceutical materials, construction and works, and agricultural products.
Algerian companies see Mauritania as the gateway for their products to West Africa, whose markets constitute attractive centers for investors.
Mauritania also possesses enormous fish wealth, the annual export capacity of which is estimated at 1.8 million tons. The latest statistics from the Investment Promotion Agency in Nouakchott recorded that the percentage of fish exports did not exceed 1.2 million tons, which means that Mauritania needs economic partners to export marine wealth, and it has worked in In recent years, the infrastructure has been developed by equipping 4 seaports: Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Tanit and Ndiago.
An increase in the exchange index
After opening 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. The volume of trade exchange reached about $50 million in the same year, and in 2021 the volume reached $87 million.
The numbers continued to rise, as the value of trade exchanges in the first quarter of 2023 reached about $187 million.
In September 2023, the Algerian government opened a branch of the Union Bank of Algeria in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, as the first bank opened by Algeria abroad.
Through this step, it aims to facilitate commercial movement between active institutions between the two countries so that it overcomes the obstacle of financial transfers.
Coinciding with the opening of the financial institution, a permanent exhibition for Algerian companies was launched in Nouakchott to learn about the latest Algerian products and draw the attention of Mauritanian suppliers to them.
Solid relationships
The academic and professor at the University of Medea in Algeria, Dr. Hakim Boughrara, said The free market between the two countries came as a result of years of consultation and constructive 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 the border areas goes beyond strengthening trade exchange to security dimensions by strengthening control over the borders where smuggling groups are active.
Regarding strengthening relations between the two neighbours, Dr. Boughrara said that trade exchange and the restoration of barter trade will strengthen political relations and unify views on the issues of combating terrorism 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 Sheikh Ghazouani visited Algeria in December 2021, during which he signed memorandums of cooperation with his counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
In September 2022, the Algerian Prime Minister, accompanied by 6 of his government ministers, visited Nouakchott, and together with his Mauritanian counterpart, chaired the work of the Joint Higher Committee, which signed 26 agreements that included energy, electricity, minerals, and gas.
In its quest 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 the markets of those countries.
Promising area
The countries of West Africa and the Sahel are a promising region for investments due to the huge discoveries of gas, oil and gold.
Mauritania seeks to remain a link through its ports and land routes between the world and the countries of West Africa and the Sahel.
Algeria has also made great strides in creating the appropriate conditions to expand its investments in Africa, as it completed the African Sahel Road, which connects Niger, Chad, and Nigeria to its ports.
The road was completed between Tindouf and the Mauritanian city of Zouerate, where iron mines are exported through the port of Nouadhibou, the economic capital.
Boughrara says that Algeria contributed to the fight against poverty in the Sahel countries, and granted a billion dollars through the International Development Agency to help the Sahel build facilities to improve public life.
