Russia and Algeria are working on updating the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, a new document can be ready as soon as possible and will be called the Declaration on In-depth Strategic Partnership, Chair of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko said following talks with Speaker of the Council of the Nation of Algeria Salah Goudjil.
"Algeria was the first country on the African continent and in the Arab world with whom Russia signed a Declaration on Strategic Partnership in 2001. Now, work is underway on both sides to update this important document. I think that in the near future we will sign a new updated declaration, which will be called the Declaration on In-depth Strategic Partnership. I am sure that it will be ready as soon as possible," Matvienko said.
During her speech, Matvienko also noted that Moscow highly appreciated Algeria's independent foreign policy. The upper house speaker added that Algeria is a time-tested partner, not subject to political conditions, and third-party forces cannot interfere in both countries' cooperation.
The Russian politician also highlighted that Russia is "satisfied that our bilateral relations are developing on multiple fronts in a variety of areas," adding that last year the two nations celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.
For his part, Goudjil stressed that the relationship between his country and Russia is based on the preservation of the sovereignty of all states and on economic sovereignty.
"The relations that we have today with Russia are built on the basis of preserving the sovereignty of all states and preserving economic sovereignty," Goudjil said as he welcomed Matvienko. "The Soviet Union stood by Algeria [during its struggle against French colonialism] and this is very important for Algeria."
According to the press service of the Federation Council, Matvienko invited her Algerian counterpart, Salah Goudjil, to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia as the head of a parliamentary delegation.
Matviyenko, at the head of a high-level Russian parliamentary and government delegation, arrived in Algiers on Wednesday for an official visit that will last until March 17.
Meeting President Tebboune
The upper house speaker also held a meeting with the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Thursday afternoon and relayed an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to him.
"I have conveyed a message from the President of the Russian Federation to the President of Algeria. In the message, the President of the Russian Federation invited the President of Algeria to pay an official visit to Russia, and also invited him to take part in the Second Russia-Africa Summit," Matvienko told reporters in Algiers following a meeting with President Tebboune.
The Second Russia-Africa Summit is scheduled to take place in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in July 2023. The first summit, held in October 2019 in Sochi, resulted in the signing of a number of cooperation agreements between Russian and various African countries.
Algeria submitted its official appeal to join BRICS in November 2022. In December, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed hope that his country could join the alliance of the world's leading emerging economies in mid 2023.
In May 2014, Matvienko paid an official visit to Algeria, where the Federation Council and the Council of the Nation of Algeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding. In May 2022, a delegation of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security visited the North African republic.
The Federation Council said at the time that, during the negotiations, the Algerian side expressed its readiness to maintain a high profile of meaningful bilateral contacts and to promote the development of strategic partnership relations in political, military, military-technical, trade-economic, energy and other spheres.