2023 is the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. How does Algeria participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road? What opportunities and growth points has the Belt and Road Initiative created for Algeria? Li Jian, Chinese Ambassador to Algeria, said in an exclusive interview that the Belt and Road Initiative has received positive responses from Algeria since it was put forward. Recently, China and Algeria signed a cooperation plan for the Belt and Road Initiative. Algeria is an important partner of China in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Algiers Grand Mosque, undertaken by China State Construction Algeria Company, is the main site of the military parade for the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence on July 5, 2022

China attaches great importance to its relations with Algeria and regards Algeria as a staunch friend. The traditional friendship between China and Arab states is profound, and the bilateral relations have always been exemplary, creating many firsts. In 1958, on the third day after the establishment of the Afghan interim government, China recognized it. It was the first non-Arab country to recognize the Afghan interim government. In 1963, my country was invited to send the first foreign aid medical team to Algeria. In 1971, Algeria put forward the "Two Algeria Proposal" at the United Nations, making a special and important contribution to China's restoration of its legal seat in the United Nations. In 2014, the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership, and Algeria became the first Arab country to establish this high-level relationship with my country. After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Afghanistan was one of the first countries to provide emergency medical supplies to China. China is the first country to send a team of anti-epidemic medical experts to Algeria, the first country to provide vaccines to Algeria, the most vaccines to Algeria, and the first country to cooperate with Algeria in the production of vaccines.

In May 2022, the Chinese government's anti-epidemic medical expert team to Algeria arrived in Algiers to fight the epidemic with the Algerian Communist Party

Economically, China has been Afghanistan's largest source of imports and major trading partner since 2013, and the two countries have completed many cooperation projects in the field of infrastructure construction. In terms of humanities, the two sides have exchanged students. Three universities in Algeria have offered Chinese courses. The Chinese Happy Spring Festival has also entered Algeria for many years. Algeria is rich in tourism resources. The two sides have reached an agreement on the "Tourist Destination Agreement". In the future, Afghanistan will welcome many Chinese tourists; at the same time, since China sent the first medical team to Afghanistan in 1963, generations of medical team members who have aided Afghanistan have won high praise from the Afghan government and people with their superb medical skills and noble medical ethics. There have been 27 batches, with a total of about 1.8 million Afghan newborns delivered and more than 26 million people diagnosed and treated. Therefore, the inheritance of China-Arab friendship from generation to generation is by no means a slogan, but has a strong and rich historical accumulation, material foundation and public opinion foundation. Editor/Xu Shengpeng