Since its independence from France in 1962, Algeria has pursued an activist foreign policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, Algeria was noted for its support of Third World policies and independence movements. Since its independence, Algeria has been a member of the Arab League, the African Union and of the United Nations.
Algeria has diplomatic relations with more than 100 foreign countries, and over 90 countries maintain diplomatic representation in Algiers.
History of foreign relations since independence
During Ben Bella’s presidency (1962–1965) Following its independence in 1962, Algeria developed deep ties with many foreign countries with a heavy presence in the global scene. The Algerian government, pursuing the dynamics that had started during the Algerian War for Independence and into the Cold War used the country's strategic geopolitical position – at the crossroads of Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian world – to assert its own interests. Algeria came to see itself as a full actor in the Cold War and not simply a bystander caught in a crossfire between the Western and Eastern blocks. Moreover, Algeria played a central role in the creation of the Third World as a global political project, using its position at the intersection of international agendas – notably between non-alignment and Afro-Asianism positions, and between anticolonial and socialist movements.
Algeria at the center of the competition between the Western and Eastern superpowers Being a newly independent country from colonial rule of a Western power – France – and having waged a liberation war with a socialist orientation, Algeria was naturally inclined to turn towards the Soviet Union and its allies. However, the country's strategic advantages increased its importance to the eyes of the Western block. Primarily, France wanted to preserve its interests in the oil and gas exploitations in Algeria. As Charles de Gaulle stated to the Algerian finance minister in 1963, “If the Algerian government respects its commitments and takes into account our interests, it can count on our cooperation”. Hence, French economic aid continued to flow in Algeria, to insure control on the petroleum and gas industry as well as maintain continued use of Algerian soil to run atomic tests in the Saharan desert. Under Ben Bella, diplomatic relations with France were normalized, the negotiations concerning oil and gas leading to an agreement in 1964. As to the United States, they wanted to prevent Algeria from becoming yet another socialist country joining the ranks of the Soviet block. Hence, along with minor military equipment, the United States provided Algeria with a food program (PL-480) which delivered free food to the population. However, the Algerian commitment to supporting anti-colonial movements in Africa went against American interests in the continent, which led to an indirect conflict with the United States and an increasingly hostile relationship between the two countries.
During the war for independence, the ALN had already benefitted from equipment, training and advice from communist countries: the USSR (though its help was quite timid until the final months of the war), China, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Moreover, ALN delegations had visited China and North Vietnam to learn from their guerrilla strategies. Help and support from the communist bloc therefore increased after independence:
Even though Algeria was not a communist regime, the Soviet Union invested massive amounts of money and material help in the country. For instance, in 1963, the USSR granted $200 million in import credits for Soviet machinery to help build the Algerian industry, and committed to building a petrochemical research institute. The Soviet Union also agreed to buy agricultural products and minerals that Algeria was struggling to export. It was finally the country's main military supplier, providing planes, tanks, armored vehicles, ships, light weapons and ammunition for a total of 11 billion dollars from 1962 to 1989. The other great communist power, China, demonstrated its interest in Algeria as a fellow antiimperialist country. Hence, when Zhou Enlai visited Algeria in December 1963, he granted Algeria a low-interest loan of $100 million. Moreover, the Chinese were more aggressive in their support for armed groups fighting imperialist and neo-imperialist regimes in Africa. Algeria and China therefore cooperated on this matter, with China contributing to ANP training camps, and shipping weapons and revolutionary militants to Algeria.