Industry & Mining

Given the Algerian economy’s reliance on the oil and gas sector, manufacturing industries have historically taken a secondary role in the country’s economic development policies. However, since the early 2000s, industry has received renewed interest from authorities, who have been looking to counteract rising demand for imports and revamp new industrial chains as a means to support massive public investment programmes geared towards infrastructure and housing. Following on from the reorganisation of the industrial public sector in February 2015, decisive steps are now being taken to reduce reliance on imports in a number of manufacturing segments, including automotive, fertilisers, petrochemicals and smartphones. Recent years have also seen key steps towards realising Algeria’s mining potential by enacting a new mining law and developing large-scale projects in the areas of phosphates, iron ore, base metals and gold. This chapter contains interviews with Abdesselam Bouchouareb, Minister of Industry and Mining; Sami Mainich, General Manager, Dow Chemical Maghreb; and Guillaume Josselin, Managing Director, Renault Algeria.