Dubai, 5 May 2012 (WAM) - Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, who led the UAE delegation to Algeria, signed the joint statement of the 10th Joint Committee Meeting between the two countries with Karim Joudi, Algerian Minister of Finance in the presence of senior officials from both sides.

Al Mansoori has met the Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Oyehia, at his office. They discussed ways to strengthen bilateral trade relations between the UAE and Algeria and remove obstacles facing investment projects in Algeria. The Algerian Prime Minister praised the development drive in the UAE and its distinguished position on the world map. "The UAE is strategic hub for Algeria as it is a gateway to the Middle East. We will do our best to offer the UAE investors an ideal investment environment in our country," he added. .

Al Mansoori, said both countries offer strong investment opportunities that should be explored. "The meeting also focused on cooperation in the areas higher education, environment, finance, customs energy, telecommunications and industry," he added.

Al Mansoori said that both sides formed a special committee to monitor the functioning of the UAE investments in Alegria which will contribute to the removal of investment barriers and enhance the performance of these projects at all levels.

The committee held its first meeting on the sidelines of the joint committee meetings and agreed to have the second meeting at the 4rth quarter of 2012.

The Joint Economic Committee meeting agreed to activate the UAE- Algeria Business Council, to encourage bilateral trade and boost investments between both countries.

The Algerian side presented a proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding to monitor illegal competition practices and another to enhance cooperation in the domain of consumer protection and to combat commercial fraud.

Al Mansoori said: "We agreed to exchange visits and organise common commercial exhibitions and forums and to provide practical mechanisms to remove all obstacles facing trade and exchange of information on legislations and laws related to foreign trade in both the countries." Al Mansoori said the meeting highlighted importance of developing cooperation in the financial field where it was agreed to organise special forums on finance in both countries to exchange information on the laws and legislations and investment environme In the energy sector both sides discussed potential for partnerships in oil exploration and to study the possibility of forming common projects in the field of renewable energy.

In the area of technology cooperation, the parties discussed the possibility of transfer of expertise from the UAE to Algeria with respect to the third generation mobile (3G).

Both sides agreed to cooperate in the fields of higher education and scientific research and in the fields of health and pharmaceutical industries and urged companies in both countries to intensify partnership in the pharmaceutical industry.

WAM/MAB