Leaders from gas exporting countries are gathering in Qatar for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit.
Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday in Doha.
The Algerian President was invited by Sheikh Tamim to visit the country, where the leaders will be reviewing their countries’ bilateral ties. Tebboune is also in Doha ahead of his participation at the GECF summit, scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
The high-profile event gathers leaders from the 11 members of the GECF’s.
The members include: Qatar, Iran, Algeria, Venezuela, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
According to the GECF’s 2021 data, Algeria’s proven natural gas reserves reached 4,504 billion cm and exported a total of 14.22 billion cm of liquified natural gas (LNG).
Qatar-Algeria ties
The Algerian president’s visit comes as Qatar and Algeria continue to expand their bilateral ties.
Qatar and Algeria share a number of agreements and memoranda in the economic, trade, industry and energy sectors amongst others.
The Gulf state is the largest Arab investor in Algeria, accounting for 74% of all foreign investments. Such investments include the ‘Algerian Qatari Steel’ (AQS) project in the Bellara industrial zone in Jijel, northeast of Algiers.
The AQS project is worth approximately $2 billon and can produce five million tonnes of steel.
Qatari businessmen have also invested in the agriculture and tourism sectors in Algeria.
The Qatari-Algerian Business Council meeting in April last year, the first to take place, exhibited the growing interest in bilateral trade.
Diplomatically, the two countries share similar views on a number of issues . This includes Palestine, where both Qatar and Algeria refuse to normalise with Israel.
Algeria also stood by Qatar in 2017 when it was illegally embargoed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt.
In 2021, “Qatar expressed its deep regret” over the severing of ties between Algeria and Morocco. The Gulf state called for the need to maintain channels of dialogue to resolve the diplomatic dispute.
Algeria said it severed ties with Morocco over “hostile actions” against it.
The two countries’ views on Syria have appeared to be different.
Algeria has been reportedly trying to reinstate Syria’s membership in the Arab League ahead of the upcoming summit. The North African country is the host of the bloc’s meeting, which has been postponed to the end of the year.
Meanwhile Qatar explicitly rejected the restoration of the Bashar Al Assad regime to the Arab League.
The Gulf state has long expressed its refusal to normalise with the Assad regime as it continues to commit crimes against Syrians.
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