Algeria and Belarus sign handful of trade agreements

• Economic forum held in Algiers
• Belarus to build $40m bus factory
• Algeria on FDI drive

Belarus intends to build a bus production plant in Algeria as part of several bilateral agreements signed between the two countries.

Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) will initially invest nearly 4.7 billion Algerian dinars ($40 million) in the project in northern Bouïra province.

MAZ signed the agreement with the Algerian Company for the Manufacture of Utility and Industrial Vehicles during an Algeria-Belarus economic forum in Algiers on Monday, the state Algerian news agency reported.

The factory will create nearly 612 direct jobs and is expected to become operational within 18 months, with an annual production capacity of 1,000 buses of various sizes and configurations tailored to the local market, the agency said.

The deal was among five agreements finalised during the forum, including one between Algerian public metal construction company SNC Metal and Belarusian company Amkodor. 

A pact was concluded between Algerian tractor maker Etrag and Belarusian company Bobruiskagromach, with the aim of enhancing industrial cooperation and the exchange of expertise and technologies.

Gas-rich Algeria has embarked on a drive to attract foreign investment into the hydrocarbon and industrial sectors to increase income and tackle persistent fiscal deficits caused by massive spending.

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In September, officials said Algeria had secured nearly $5 billion in foreign direct investment in energy and steel industries from China, the US and other countries at an African trade exhibition held in Algiers.

Algerian investment promotion agency AIPA, which the government created three years ago to spur capital inflow, finalised the deals.

AIPA said in a report earlier this year that incentives to foreign investors had spurred an unprecedented investment flow into Algeria with capital of nearly $43 billion in just over two years.