Algeria wants to work more closely with Indonesia to fight terror<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Algiers<\/p>\n
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has called at a dinner
\nhonoring visiting Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri for
\ngreater cooperation between the two countries in the fight
\nagainst terrorism, the Algerian news agency reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"Together, we must take up the challenge represented by
\nterrorism, through enhanced cooperation between our two countries
\nand by coordinating our efforts on an international scale,\" the
\nAPS agency reported Bouteflika as saying at a dinner on Thursday
\nevening.<\/p>\n
Megawati arrived in Algeria on Thursday for a four-day
\nofficial visit, the first ever by an Indonesian head of state
\nsince Algeria won independence from France in 1962.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country in
\nthe world, while the Algerian authorities have since 1992 been
\nbattling radical Islamic insurgents who want to replace the
\nsecular government with a Muslim fundamentalist regime.<\/p>\n
Toasting Megawati on Thursday, Bouteflika said that Algeria
\nand Indonesia \"are faced today with a major challenge that
\nthreatens our institutions and is opposed to their objectives of
\ndevelopment and progress.\"<\/p>\n
Algeria, he said, had repeatedly called for \"effective
\ninternational cooperation\" to fight terrorism \"in the interest of
\nthe security, stability and prosperity of the world's peoples.\"<\/p>\n
\"The intensification of the fight against terrorism by my
\ncountry should not... create confusion between the crimes of
\nterrorist groups and Islam, a religion of peace, equity,
\ntolerance and which respects human dignity,\" Bouteflika stressed.<\/p>\n
Megawati and Bouteflika were scheduled late Friday to visit a
\nmajor steel works, hailed as one of the flagship factories of
\nAlgerian industry, in the northeastern city of Annaba Friday.<\/p>\n
The huge steel works, built under the regime of former
\npresident Houari Boumediene, who ruled Algeria from 1965 to 1978,
\nhas been crippled by financial and management difficulties.<\/p>\n
During Megawati's visit, the two sides are also expected to
\nconclude a major contract between Algerian oil company Sonatrach
\nand its Indonesian counterpart, Pertamina.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian leader's visit is part of a tour which will
\nalso take her to Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Egypt.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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