Algeria

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria gained independence in 1962, after a long war against France. Located in the Maghreb region, Algeria is the largest country in Africa. Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, it borders with Tunisia and Libya to the east, Niger, Mali and Mauritania to the south, and Morocco and Western Sahara to the west. Its population is estimated to be 44 million and the official languages ​​are Arabic and Tamaziɣt.

Algeria plays a leading role in the stabilization of the Sahel region. In recent years, it has undertaken cross-border political, military and intelligence cooperation initiatives with neighbouring countries.

The cornerstones of cooperation between Italy and Algeria have been energy, the creation of human capital, infrastructures and security. Until 2019, Italy used to be Algeria's largest trading partner globally. Since the beginning of 2022, Algeria is Italy's first gas supplier. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of Italy-Algeria trade fell to €5.83 billion, of which €3.14 billion were Italian imports (-27.6 percent compared with the previous year) and €1.94 billion were Italian exports (-33.5 percent compared with the previous year). Natural gas represents almost the totality of Italy’s imports from the country, while Italy mainly exports machinery, refined petroleum products, chemicals and iron and steel products. In 2021 the trade between the two countries reached $ 9 billion.