The two projects should make it possible to strengthen bilateral trade which does not exceed 200 million dollars per year, despite the enormous potential of the two neighboring countries.
The Algerian President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, proceeded on Thursday, February 22, to the laying of the first stone of the projects of a free zone and a road connection with a length of 840 km to stimulate trade between the two countries.
Mr. Tebboune declared on this occasion that this free zone located in the border wilaya of Tindouf (east of Algeria) offers tax and customs advantages to Algerian and Mauritanian economic operators.
“Mauritanian goods and goods of clear origin are welcome and will be exempt from taxes, the same for Algerian products,” he underlined, inviting economic operators to “invest in the free zone and take advantage of the exemptions tax and customs duties relating to commercial and industrial exchanges between the two countries.
The Algerian president had already announced, on February 13, 2024, the creation of free zones between Algeria and five African border countries, namely Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Tunisia, during the year underway to strengthen regional economic integration.
Often located on the border of two countries, a free zone is a fenced space dedicated to commercial exchanges exempt from customs duties and offering warehousing, storage, and distribution facilities. It also allows industrial companies that set up there to benefit from certain tax exemptions.
The Algerian and Mauritanian leaders also kicked off the project to build a road linking Tindouf to the Mauritanian town of Zouerate, which will span a length of 840 km.
The agreement relating to the construction of this road was signed in December 2021, on the sidelines of the state visit carried out by the Mauritanian President, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, to Algeria.
The road project should be carried out by around ten Algerian companies, according to the official Algerian press agency APS.
MM Tebboune and El Ghazouani also inaugurated two fixed border posts between Algeria and Mauritania.
Trade between Algiers and Nouakchott does not exceed $200 million per year, despite the enormous potential of the two countries, according to data published last September by the Algerian Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion.
