Algérie Presse Service (APS) – November 4, 2011

ALGIERS – The United States said yesterday it is considering sale of military equipment to Algeria in the framework of cooperation in the fight against terrorism and arms trafficking and narcotics.

The announcement was made by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Maghreb Affairs Raymond Maxwell at a press conference convened at the U.S. embassy, at the conclusion of his visit to Algeria.

“We are defining the ways of means of selling military equipment to Algeria in the framework of counterterrorism,” said Mr. Maxwell, who underlined that “U.S. efforts are aimed at stopping propagation of AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) activities in the region and fighting drug trafficking, human trafficking and all sorts of traffic.”

The U.S. official recalled that Algeria and the United States enjoy a partnership in several areas, including counterterrorism, exchange of information, and fight against arms trafficking. On that last issue, Mr. Maxwell said that “the objective is to prevent arms proliferation from Libya.”

Addressing the talks he had with Algerian officials during his visit, Mr. Maxwell said he has discussed the “shared concerns” regarding the region with Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel.
“We have talked about Libya and Algerian-Libyan relations,” he said, adding that the United States hopes that Libya’s neighbors “are going to support the NTC (National Transitional Council) build a new democracy on a fragile situation.”

Moreover, discussing the political reforms being implemented in Algeria, the U.S. official said that the Algerian government has chosen the “right way”. “I think it is very easy to see that the Algerian government (…) has chosen the right way by adopting political reforms,” he said, hailing the “immense freedom” enjoyed by the press in Algeria.

On cooperation between the two countries, Mr. Maxwell recalled the existence of an “important” partnership between Algeria and the United States based on “friendship” and expressed the wish of his country to further strengthen the bilateral relations. He indicated that the numerous visits made by U.S. officials to Algeria “underline further the quality of Algerian-American relations.” “The two countries have a lot of interests in common,” he said.