Algeria has finally reversed its decision to block trade with Spain. The country’s authorities had announced the end of the Friendship Treaty that bound them to Madrid in 2002 and had hidden behind a circular from an association of banks to block bilateral commercial operations.
Algiers will not have been able to resist for long in its standoff against Spain decided to intimidate the Iberian country and force it to change its position on the Sahara issue, while Spain has supported the Moroccan autonomy plan.
The Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABEF) in Algeria, which decided on June 8 to suspend all commercial operations with Spanish operators, announced the end of these restrictions.
Algeria had denied the judgment “current transactions” with Spain even if the Spanish operators have assured the contrary. The Spanish government has also testified to Algeria’s lie, claiming that the Maghreb country has indeed blocked all bilateral trade.
Gas exports to Spain were not disrupted, but Madrid had already organized itself to find other sources of gas, particularly in the United States, when Algiers turned to Italy. as if to punish her.
“The precautionary measures – freezing of foreign trade operations of goods and services from and to Spain – are no longer appropriate” from Thursday, said the ABEF in a note addressed to the directors of banks and financial institutions.
The Algerian authorities, for their part, maintain the law of silence, as they do not want to show themselves as the real instigators of this measure of commercial retaliation against Spain.
The association did not mention the reasons which led it to pronounce the lifting of the measures, it indicates that the decision has been taken “the outcome of the evaluation of the device” put in place after the restrictions, and “in consultation with the actors concerned”.
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