This is a strong message. This is how the Minister of Commerce, Kamel Rezig, described a commercial convoy made up of 28 semi-trailers loaded with Algerian goods and which set off on Thursday, November 18 in the direction of Mauritania and Senegal.
Kicking off this convoy comes just over two weeks after the assassination of three Algerian road in a bombing of the Moroccan army to the border of Western Sahara and Mauritania on Monday 1st November.
The three drivers were killed while transporting a shipment of white cement from Ouargla to Nouakchott, Mauritania. Algeria had denounced a “cowardly” and “barbaric” assassination, carried out with “sophisticated weaponry” and promised that this crime “will not go unpunished”. Morocco has not reacted to the Algerian accusations.
“Algeria will not give up Africa or its exports to neighboring countries despite the difficulties and challenges,” said the minister on the sidelines of the kickoff ceremony, adding that this expedition is “a strong message, namely that we are always working to increase the rate of our exports to Africa, no matter what.”
“A response”
Through this convoy, which “is intended as a response to the parties who believe they are sowing terror and fear in us,” he said, “we have proved that we are continuing export operations and that we are even increasing their size. cadence”, insisted Kamel Rezig, whose remarks were reported by the official agency APS.
Other convoys will be organized through the border areas of Tindouf, Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Debdeb and Tamanrasset, he announced.
Algeria, which seeks to increase its non-hydrocarbon exports, mainly targets the African market.
Among the 28 trucks that make up this Thursday’s convoy, 3 will continue to Senegal where they will also deliver goods as part of Algeria’s participation in the 29th edition of the Dakar International Fair. The 25 trucks bound for Mauritania carry 820 tons of products, including 480 tons of agri-food products, 200 tons of cement, 100 tons of packaging products and 40 tons of plastic items, APS said.
