BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- Less than a month after the official announcement of the return of the Algerian ambassador to Spain, new signs suggest that the two countries have taken significant steps toward the normalization of their bilateral relations.
The meeting on Monday between the Spanish ambassador to Algeria, Fernando Morán CalvoSotelo, and Kamel Moula, President of the Council for Algerian Economic Renewal, holds substantial significance in the assessment of the current state of Algerian-Spanish relations. Since June 2022, commercial relations between Algeria and Spain had been at a standstill. This meeting between the two figures can be considered a crucial indication of an imminent return to normalcy.
Following this meeting, another development further supports the notion of a thaw in Algerian-Spanish relations. The Algerian Ministry of Transport announced yesterday the resumption of Air Algeria’s flight service between Algiers and Madrid, as well as the strengthening of the Algiers-Barcelona route.
In its statement, the Ministry of Transport revealed the relaunch of the Algiers-Madrid route, which had been inactive since March 2020, with two flights per week. Additionally, the Algiers-Barcelona route will now operate on a daily basis.
The flight slots between Algeria and Spain, which had remained restricted despite the return to normalcy in Algerian air transport after the COVID-19-related crisis, are gradually returning to regular operation. The diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Spain lasted nearly twenty months. At the root of the crisis was a shift in the Spanish position regarding the Western Sahara conflict in March 2022, where Pedro Sanchez considered in a letter announced by the Moroccan royal palace that Rabat’s proposed autonomy plan was the most serious track to consider as a solution to the Sahrawi issue.
This stance angered Algiers, prompting the recall of its ambassador in March 2022 and escalating its response in June of the same year by suspending the friendship treaty in effect since 2002 with Spain, subsequently paralyzing commercial exchanges, notably in ceramics and livestock. The Algerian decision resulted in significant losses for numerous Spanish companies, whose primary market is Algeria.
Spanish companies remain vigilant. However, since September, there has been a gradual shift towards a thaw in relations. The return of a balanced discourse from Spain on the Western Sahara during the United Nations General Assembly, where Pedro Sanchez stated that his country was working towards a solution within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions without referencing its previous pro-Moroccan stance, resonated well with Algerian authorities.
Pedro Sanchez’s positioning, renewed last month as the head of the Spanish government in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state, also contributed to the warming of relations with Algeria.
Djameleddine Bouabdallah, President of the Algerian-Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated in an interview with Algerie Aujourd’hui that the reception of the Spanish ambassador by the Crea and the reinforcement of air connections were “positive signs” towards the normalization of Algerian-Spanish relations, particularly in the commercial sphere. “It is clear that this is another step towards the restoration of commercial relations. There were fears of a cooling off after the reappointment of the foreign minister, but evidently, discussions have taken place, hence the sequence of initiatives between the two countries in recent days, indicating the return of exchanges,” he explained.
“We eagerly await the return of commercial relations with Algeria, which is a very important country for us,” confides the manager of a Spanish company that exports machinery for tile production to Algeria. In another context, Algeria became the leading supplier of gas to Spain in October, with 15,741 GWh, accounting for 46.6% of Spain’s total gas imports.
This is another indicator that the resumption of Algerian-Spanish relations is well underway.
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