Bouteflika "a new lease of life" to Algerian-French relations

The forthcoming summit between President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his French counterpart François Hollande, scheduled for December 2012 in Algiers, will give a new lease of life to Algerian-French relations, said Sunday here Minister of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and Investment Promotion Cherif Rahmani. "As from today, I think that our relations will get a new lease of life that will be confirmed by the summit between the two heads of State," Rahmani said while addressing Jean-Pierre Raffarin, French President’s envoy, during a joint press briefing. "We have reached a watershed in the relations between our two countries, because we are in a world, marked by changes and crises, and which requires convergence between the two economies and the two states," he added. Owing to economic and geostrategic considerations, Algeria and France are obliged to improve their relations, Rahmani said at the end of a meeting with Raffarin, during which they discussed several partnership projects.