ALGIERS, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and France on Sunday vowed to open a new chapter in bilateral relations, as the two nations held the fourth Joint Committee for economic partnership in Algiers.
"This session is being held as overall relations and economic cooperation between Algeria and France are substantially developed and expanded, on solid foundation of mutual interest and future oriented," Algerian Foreign Minister, Abdelkader Messahel, said in his opening remarks at the Franco-Algerian Joint Committee.
He added the session is likely to give birth to closer cooperation between the two countries.
He said that "beyond the assessment and evaluation to which it must give rise, this meeting is an important step ahead of the Intergovernmental High Level Committee (IHLC) due on 7 December in Paris, and which is to be co-chaired by our both countries' prime ministers."
Messahel noted that this meeting precedes the forthcoming visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Algeria, without providing a specific date for it.
In fact, the bilateral relations between France and Algeria have been lagging behind, as the two nations are still unable to overcome their common "painful" past, which includes a 132 years of French colonial era in Algeria.
In Algeria, it is understood that the bilateral relations with France could reach normalization, only when Paris recognizes the crimes committed during its colonial era, and offer apology to the victims of that 'brutal" colonialism rule.
