Russian Federation supports Algeria's intention to join the BRICS group

Russian Chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko has met with the Chairman of the Algerian Council of the Nation, Salah Goudjil, in Algiers. She also met with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Matviyenko noted that Russia supports the African country's intention to join the BRICS bloc.

"As you know, Algeria has expressed its desire to opt for the BRICS format. Russia will certainly support this intention," stressed Matvienko during the meeting of parliamentarians of the two countries.

A delegation of the upper house of the Russian parliament is on an official visit to Algeria. The programme of the visit includes meetings of the Speaker of the Federation Council with the country's leadership and Algerian parliamentarians.

Algeria hopes to join the BRICS grouping in 2023; the current members of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have already approved the country's entry into the alliance. Algeria submitted a formal application in November last year.

The Chairman of the Federation Council also recalled that Algeria was the first state on the African continent and in the Arab world, with which Russia signed a Declaration on Strategic Partnership in 2001. She added that an active work on its actualisation is currently underway.

In addition, the Russian and Algerian parliamentarians addressed the issue of transition to mutual settlements in national currencies, the development of bilateral economic cooperation, and interaction at international platforms, as reported by the press service of the Russian Federation Council.

The sides noted the great potential for interregional cooperation. A number of Russian regions are interested in the development of cooperation, and it is important to promote the expansion of the geography of interregional cooperation, stressed the Chairman of the Federation Council. According to Matvienko, among the most promising areas in this regard are energy, agrarian, transport, pharmaceutical and educational sectors.

She also stated that next year the quota for students from Algeria in Russian universities will be further increased.

In addition, the sides stressed the importance of developing ties in the fields of education, culture, sport, through youth, including in the development of dialogue among young parliamentarians. The Algerian delegation will participate in the Russia-Africa parliamentary conference to be held in Moscow on 19-20 March.

"Our meeting clearly demonstrated that relations between Russia and Algeria have every reason to develop as a deep strategic partnership. We highly appreciate this approach of our Algerian friends"

Valentina Matvienko Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

Recall that the day before, Moscow and Algeria secured their intention to cooperate by signing a memorandum, which will give an impetus to the development of relations between business representatives and investors of both capitals.

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