Baerbock highlights Algeria's potential to build a "green energy bridge over the Mediterranean"
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday highlighted Algeria's potential to build a "green energy bridge over the Mediterranean" and to cooperate with Europe in the field of renewable energies and green hydrogen.
After meeting her Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf in Berlin, Baerbock expressed her gratitude that Algeria "stood by Europe" with its gas supplies last winter, when the war in Ukraine raised fears about the stability of supplies.
However, the green minister pointed out that gas is a bridging technology for Germany and that "every bridge has an end", she said in an appearance with Attaf, who will meet with Robert Habeck, the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, tomorrow, Friday.
In the field of renewables, Algeria has a lot of potential and advantages as a location, such as the infrastructure for gas and pipelines and a young and well-educated population," he said, noting that the creation of a "green energy bridge" would have beneficial effects both for the climate and for regional security.
Attaf, for his part, expressed a willingness to "deepen cooperation" with Berlin and Algeria's readiness to participate in the "SoutH2" hydrogen corridor agreed by Germany, Austria and Italy in May, which is planned to connect the European continent with Tunisia and which he described as a "historic project".
The two ministers also praised each other's efforts to stabilise the Sahel and to tackle the threat of Islamist terrorism in the region.
Attaf also thanked Baerbock for Berlin's support for Algeria's election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, which he said would serve to defend principles such as "cooperation between peoples, justice, peace, security in the world and democratisation".
However, the German minister did not hide the "profound disagreements" that exist in some areas, for example, by pointing out that "civil rights and human rights are inalienable" and by mentioning the case of the imprisoned Algerian journalist Ihsan El Kadi.
Baerbock also spoke vehemently when Attaf referred to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's proposal to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, which he referred to as "sister nations" and then said that it was painful to watch "what is happening" between the two countries.
"We had to experience at first hand how Russia attacked a neighbouring European country, with which there were many family and friendship ties, for no reason from one day to the next," she said.
"If we want peace in Europe, if we want peace for the whole world, let us together call the aggressor by its name," she said, urging that a "war of aggression contrary to international law" should not be ignored.