Soonar 
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has discussed with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron his expected visit to France. The Algerian presidency said that the two presidents exchanged congratulations on the occasion of the new year.
The state visit of Tebboune to France is “still the subject of preparations”, affirmed the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Attaf, specifying that it depends on the settlement of five files.
Attaf listed the issues of memory, mobility, economic cooperation, the French nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara, as well as the return of symbolic belongings of Emir Abdelkader – the founder of the modern Algerian state.
Ties between France and Algeria have been frosty since the statements made by Macron in October 2021 when he questioned whether Algeria had existed as a nation before French colonialism.
The fact that French intelligence evacuated Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui from Tunisia to France in 2023 also caused tension in the ties between both countries.
At the beginning of August, Tebboune declared that his state visit to France was “still maintained” but depended “on the program” of the Élysée, specifying that a “state visit has conditions” and “no “It’s not a tourist visit.” In August 2022, Macron arrived in Algeria hoping to repair fractured relations with a nation whose oil and gas reserves have new strategic significance because of Europe’s looming energy crisis.
Moreover, Tebboune made a phone call with his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied. They discussed bilateral cooperation and ways to develop it in all fields, in addition to international and regional issues of mutual interest.
On Sunday evening, the Algerian president promised as he addressed the Algerian people that the year 2024 would be full of achievements.
“We are today bidding farewell to the year 2023, which was rich in achievements and during which our beloved country has made great strides to achieve development in different fields,” said Tebboune.
On this occasion, the President of the Republic called on the Algerians to “continue the efforts, everyone at his level, to raise our country to higher ranks, so that the year 2024 will be full of achievements that will pave the way for our country to position itself among the developed countries.”
Algeria has allocated a budget that exceeds $110 billion for the year 2024. This is the biggest budget in the country’s history.
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