Russia-Algeria trade more than doubles in 2023 - State Duma speaker

ALGIERS. July 22 (Interfax) - Bilateral trade between Russia and Algeria more than doubled in 2023, Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said.

"Bilateral trade increased 2.2 times to $3.765 billion in 2023, which was a considerable growth of our external economic relations," Volodin told journalists on Monday following a meeting with Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

It is also highly important to develop ties between the two countries' parliaments, Volodin said.

"They are not currently at the level we'd like them to be. This is the first conversation and the first exchange of views between the parliaments in a long time. The last one was in 2015," he said.

An agreement has been reached with the speaker of the Algerian parliament that its delegation will visit Russia soon, he said.

The sides also "agreed to establish a high-level commission that will discuss the development of relations as part of parliamentary-level processes to resolve specific issues in order to secure the required result," Volodin said. "It is important for residents of both the Russian Federation and Algeria," he said.

"Following the conversation that took place with the president of Algeria at the State Duma in Moscow, we are implementing the agreements today and have found solutions to issues that should make our relations stronger and make a contribution to cooperation. We are on the same page. You know that the history of our relations is decades-long," Volodin said.

Russia and Algeria pursue common positions within all international organizations, including the United Nations, he said.

"This is the position of friends. This is how we see our counterparts, citizens of Algeria. They are a friendly nation, they are our strategic partners. That is why, relations should be raised to a qualitatively new level. New formats need to be used in order to enable us to work towards our goal," he said.

Volodin also told Tebboune that Russian President Vladimir Putin sends his regards.