Algeria's largest private company Cevital is seeking foreign investors to help it build an $8 billion solar power complex to export electricity to Europe, the company's renewable energy chief said.
International investors want to use plentiful sunlight in north Africa to power energy-hungry Europe, but while projects are moving ahead in neighbouring Morocco, Algeria's government has held back, saying it favours homegrown projects instead.
"We are working on a project of 2,000 Megawatts. This will cost an estimated $8 billion," Boukhalfa Yaici, Cevital's Renewable Energies project manager, told Reuters.
The electricity the project would generate is about the same as a mid-sized nuclear power station in the United States.
"What will determine the speed is the contribution of European Union (companies) to developing this energy project," he said in an interview.
"Our partners can contribute through the construction of undersea lines, for example, from Algeria to Italy and Spain.
All options are on the table."
Major firms including Siemens, RWE and Deutsche Bank have formed the Desertec consortium, a 400 billion euro ($490 billion) plan to use solar power from the Sahara desert to supply 15 percent of Europe's power by 2050.
Cevital is a member of the consortium but Algeria's government -- which is tightening rules on foreign investment -- has said it does not want foreigners exploiting its solar energy and is only interested if local firms play a central role.
Yaici said Cevital's solar project will fit in the with the government's policy of favouring Algerian firms and promoting exports outside the dominant oil and gas sector.
"It would be good to find a viable alternative solution to make possible this kind of exports. Cevital aims to be the biggest exporter of non-hydrocarbon products," Yaici said.
Family-owned Cevital has interests ranging from sugar refining, to car imports, vegetable oil and margarine, and running hypermarkets. The Cevital executive did not say how the company's solar power project would fit in with the Desertec plan but he said his firm still backed it.
Countering allegations Desertec would exploit developing countries, he said the project would supply a large portion of North Africa's energy needs and also help develop local renewable energy industries.
"Many components can be made locally. We want to be an industrial partner for this project," he said. "The (Desertec) project is feasible and profitable for both exporters and importers. Financial problems will not arise."
Abdullah Bin Zayed participates in the meetings of the Standing Committee of the Afro-Arab Cooperation
The Standing Committee of the Afro-Arab Cooperation convened its 14th meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo with the participation of UAE Foreign Minister HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Foreign Ministers of 24 Arab and African countries, the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the Commissioner African Union Political Affairs Julia Joiner.
The Arab side was represented by UAE, Jordan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania, while the African side was represented by Angola, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia and Burkina Faso.
The Committee discussed the preparations for the second Afro-Arab summit to be held in Libya later this year and Arab and African issues of common interest in the political sphere, in particular the situation in Darfur, Sudan, Somalia, Palestine and the Middle East, the Comoros and Mauritania.
The meeting also discussed the establishment of joint committees of the African and Arab ambassadors in the capitals of selected Arab countries for coordination.
In the area of Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee discussed ways to create the Afro-Arab Development Forum and the adoption of a joint work plan on agricultural development and food security in Africa and the Arab world.
Maghreb countries should abandon protectionism in order to boost lagging regional trade, according to participants in a recent conference on economic integration organised by Tunisia's Foreign Ministry.
The conference on Maghreb Economic Integration, which was held on February 17th to mark the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the Maghreb Union, was attended by high-ranking Tunisian officials, businessmen and professors.
"We must abolish bureaucracy in the Maghreb countries. It hampers ... business activities," said Tunisian businessman Kamel Ben Yaglan. "The barrier is not the Maghreb people, but the bureaucrat."
Participants acknowledged progress in economic relations among Maghreb countries such as Tunisia and Libya, and reaffirmed their conviction that economic integration is essential.
However, they said that trade among Maghreb countries was still at a low level compared to that in regions such as Latin America and Southeast Asia. According to Mohamed Jamal Alifa of the Tunisian Ministry of Commerce, Tunisian-Libyan trade increased to 1.12 billion dinars in 2009, while trade with Mauritania did not exceed 28.7 million dinars. Foreign investment in the Maghreb, he added, was still negligible.
Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia set up the Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote co-operation and economic integration in a common market. The year 1994 saw the creation of the Maghreb Free Trade Zone, which has yet to be put into action. Free trade agreements were signed between Morocco and Tunisia in 1999, between Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Jordan in 2004 and between Tunisia and Algeria in 2008.
The conference witnessed debates on economic integration, the trade zone project for the Maghreb countries, and the co-operation between developing countries.
Tunisian officials presented their views to participants. "Reinforcing the Maghreb countries' integration has become essential in the new world order," Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane said in the event's opening session. For his part, Development Minister Mohamed Nouri Jouini called for speeding up such major projects as the Maghreb highway, railroads, and the Maghreb telecommunications satellite.
The assistant to the secretary-general of the Arab League, Chedli Nafati, told participants that "there are promising steps in intra-Maghreb relations, but we haven't achieved the milestones". Nafati said the barriers to progress went beyond the economic level, calling them "political".
"[T]there is no will to go beyond nationalist interests," said the secretary-general.
Participants agreed to press on to reach the region's potential for trade and development.
"There is latent energy in the Maghreb region: a market with approximately 100 million people", said Professor Azam Mahjoub, adding that there were "mainly institutional barriers. We have to reform the institutions at the level of the Maghreb countries".
Iran has hailed the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa as an opportunity for the promotion of regional integrity and global trade.
“The formation of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESO) would encourage regional cooperation and deepen economic trade between Africa and the world,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a meeting with COMESO Secretary General Sindiso Ndema Ngwenya.
Mottaki said the economic order of the world needs to undergo a change, adding that the “US government's financial mismanagement” has negatively affected the global economic order.
Iran has devised a “comprehensive plan” on developing cooperation with African countries in various domains including agriculture and the auto industry.
The COMESO secretary general also welcomed expanding ties with Iran and praised Tehran's capabilities in the food industry and agriculture, which he said could come to help African countries.
Formed in 1994, COMESO is a major market place for both internal and foreign trading and has 19 member states.
The Sokoto Caliphate is an Islamic spiritual community in Nigeria, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar. Founded during the Fulani Jihad in the early 1800s, it was one of the most powerful empires in sub-Saharan Africa prior to European conquest and colonization. The caliphate remained extant through the colonial period and afterwards, though with reduced power.
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