U.S.: Upbeat on Algeria

Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige headed a delegation of top executives from mainly bluechip U.S. firms to Algeria in December on a mission to strengthen commercial ties.

Upon their return to the U.S., delegation members expressed enthusiasm over the degree of interest shown for expanded trade, which they said exceeded all expectations. The executives who made the trip represented companies in avionics, aviation, communications, water resources, agribusiness, manpower and development, and operations and maintenance.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce Raymond Waldmann described the tone of the sessions with Algeria as "more pragmatic and constructive than we had expected," and termed the mission a success. Secretary Baldrige was the first Reagan Administration cabinet officer ever to visit Algeria, and he talked at length with President Chadli Benjedid and with seven Algerian ministers.

Algerian officials indicated their interest in receiving technological transfers as well as training and maintenance services, especially in the field of avionics. A new airport is to be built in Algiers, and the Federal Aviation Administration is eager to establish a working relationship with Algerian aviation officials seeking to improve avionics. FAA administrator J. Lynn Helms discussed the establishment of training programs for Algerian pilots and air traffic controllers, while Boeing chairman T. Wilson held talks about the pending sales of 737s and 747s to Air Algerie.

At the end of the mission, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced that it had worked out an agreement to set up operations in Algiers to smooth out trade disputes.

Commercial relations between the U.S. and Algeria have flourished since the release of the hostages from Iran in 1981, negotiated by Algerian diplomats. U.S. exports to Algeria soared by 32 percent over 1980 to $717 million, and the Commerce Department estimates that they reached $900 million by the end of 1982.

But the U.S. market share (7 percent) is still weak, and the U.S. would like to boost it. Algeria's Minister of Commerce Abdelaziz Khellef accepted Secretary Baldrige's invitation to visit Washington, where both sides will seek new ways to ease market access for American companies. Algeria faces a critical housing shortage, and U.S. construction firms which have up to now found the market hard to penetrate are lining up for what they hope will be a glowingly successful housing mission to Algeria in January.