Qatar, Algeria sign MoU on steel factory

Qatar and Algeria have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of an iron and steel factory in the industrial area of Bellara in Jijel state with a production capacity of 5mn tonnes per year. The MoU was signed by HE the Minister of Economy and Finance Yousef Hussein Kamal and Algerian Minister of Industry, SME and Investment Promotion Mohamed Benmeradi. After the MoU signing, Kamal said that HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani attached “a special importance to the factory project which will produce and market steel in Algeria”. He told reporters: “We can say that the countdown for the launch of the factory and the production of its first piece of steel has begun”. Production would start in a maximum of 30 months, he added.The  plant will produce 2.5mn tonnes of long steel in the first phase, and 5mn tonnes of long, flat and special steel in the second phase. The joint venture steel mill will be 49% owned by Qatar and 51 % owned by Algeria in accordance with the Algerian investment law. “We have other investment interests in Algeria, including the establishment of private car plant project under the German Volkswagen trademark, and we are working to realise this according to a tripartite partnership between Qatar, Algeria and the German car manufacturer.” The Minister of Economy and Finance said that Qatar and Algeria had agreed to work together in investment projects outside the two countries, in line with a bilateral agreement that provides for a joint sovereign fund to invest in global markets. “We, in Qatar, have a 20-year-old experience in this field, and our brothers in Algeria want to take advantage of that.”