European Union, Algeria to continue partnership negotiations

The European Union and Algeria have agreed to proceed with negotiations to help Algeria join a partnership association with the EU.

Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said following talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmad Attaf, "We have agreed that we want to start partnership association negotiations with the European Union."

He said, "We are convinced that the two sides can exert more efforts to improve relations," adding that talks with Attaf were "exceptionally frank and open," and that the two sides agreed that the top priority is to fight terrorism.

Attaf described his two-hour meeting with the Austrian foreign minister, British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Derek Fatchett and German Minister of State Werner Hoyer, as a "revision of the relations between Algeria and the EU. We expressed our commitment to continuing and boosting political dialogue."