France's Macron pays first visit to Algeria for further cooperation

ALGIERS, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday paid a one-day visit to Algeria at the invitation of his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

It is Macron's first visit to the North African country since he took office seven months ago. His visit to Algeria had been scheduled in September but was postponed.

Upon his arrival at Houari Boumedien Airport in the capital Algiers, Macron was greeted by Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, Senate chief Abdelkader Bensalah and other top government officials.

During his short stay in the city, Macron is expected to meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and other Algerian officials to discuss issues including assessing bilateral political dialogue and economic cooperation.

Security and anti-terror cooperation, in addition to the regional situation, will also be on the agenda.

The visit of Macron comes a day before the Franco-Algerian High Level Inter-ministerial Committee in Paris as part of continuing political dialogue between the two nations.

In mid-November, Algeria and France signed three partnership agreements, including the establishment of an assembly unit for French automaker PSA-Peugeot in Algeria's western province of Oran. Enditem