China and Algeria signed several agreements on infrastructure, petrochemicals and energy on Tuesday as part of a state visit by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Beijing.
China's President Xi Jinping described Algeria as a natural partner and said the two countries will also forge deeper ties in the minerals and agriculture sectors, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
The North African nation has strategic importance to China given its location on the Mediterranean Sea. Relations between Beijing and the governing National Liberation Front go back to the late 1950s when Algeria sought independence from France.
Xi said both sides will also build out co-operation in aerospace, nuclear energy, and renewable energy, as well as cultivating new points for co-operation.
After the meeting, China signed a flurry of bilateral agreements with Algeria, including deals on telecoms, sustainable urban development and trade, according to CCTV.
In 2014, the countries upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, with Algeria being the first Arab nation to form such a partnership with China.
Tebboune, on his first visit to China since becoming Algeria's president in 2019, said his country is willing to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership with China to assist Algeria's economic and social development.
“ (Algeria) is willing to work closely with China on strategic co-operation in international and regional affairs,” Tebboune said.
Algeria, Africa's largest natural gas exporter, has sought to join the BRICS economic group that includes Russia and China and that positions itself as an alternative to Western hegemony.
Mr Tebboune thanked Mr Xi for China's support in Algeria's bids to join the group and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, saying “China is our most important friend and will help us achieve national development”.
China has made sizeable investments in the Algerian energy sector, including a production-sharing contract between Sinopec and Algeria's Sonatrach.
A delegation of Sonatrach executives visited China in May to discuss energy co-operation and sign a gas supply contract with Chinese partners, according to the Algeria Press Service.
BRICS membership has been a long-term foreign policy goal for Tebboune, with the president saying last year that his country meets “a good part” of the economic criteria for joining the bloc.
Mr Tebboune participated in a BRICS virtual summit at the end of June when Russian President Vladimir Putin called on leaders of the group to co-operate in the face of “selfish actions” from the West.
The 77-year-old Algerian leader visited Russia last month, reaching an agreement with Putin to deepen their two countries' “strategic partnership”.
Algeria, a major gas supplier to energy-hungry Europe, has maintained warm ties with its European neighbours and Moscow, despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Tebboune comes to Beijing after a state visit to Russia last month, during which he appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to support Algeria becoming a member of BRICS, a group of emerging markets comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Results
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Mezmar, Adam McLean (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 2,000m; Winner: AF Ajwad, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Gold Silver, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
4pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 1,000m; Winner: Atrash, Richard Mullen, Ana Mendez.
4.30pm: Gulf Cup Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 1,700m; Winner: AF Momtaz, Saif Al Balushi, Musabah Al Muhairi.
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 1,200m; Winner: Al Mushtashar, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
FA%20Cup%20semi-final%20draw
%3Cp%3ECoventry%20City%20v%20Manchester%20United%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EManchester%20City%20v%20Chelsea%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20Games%20to%20be%20played%20at%20Wembley%20Stadium%20on%20weekend%20of%20April%2020%2F21.%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sunday's Super Four matches
Dubai, 3.30pm
India v Pakistan
Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangladesh v Afghanistan
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Price: From Dh117,059
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
INFO
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
