THE WORLD BANK GROUP ARCHIVES PUBLIC DISCLOSURE AUTHORIZED Folder Title: Contacts with member countries: Algeria - Correspondence 01 Folder ID: 1770934 ISAD(G) Reference Code: WB IBRD/IDA 03 EXC-10-4549S Series: Contacts - Member Countries files Sub-Fonds: Records of President Robert S. McNamara Fonds: Records of the Office of the President Digitized: March 11, 2013 To cite materials from this archival folder, please follow the following format: [Descriptive name of item], [Folder Title], Folder ID [Folder ID], ISAD(G) Reference Code [Reference Code], [Each Level Label as applicable], World Bank Group Archives, Washington, D.C., United States. The records in this folder were created or received by The World Bank in the course of its business. The records that were created by the staff of The World Bank are subject to the Bank’s copyright. Please refer to http://www.worldbank.org/terms-of-use-earchives for full copyright terms of use and disclaimers. THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C. © 2012 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / International Development Association or The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org PUBLIC DISCLOSURE AUTHORIZED /Ill! /Ill //11/11//1/1 !1111111111111111/11///li 1!1/ 1770934 A1993-012 Other#: 1 2u~,),)7B Contacts with member countries: Algeria -Correspondence 01 1 r c r f • ALGERIA 1. 9/27/68 Cheri£ Belkacem, Minister of State in Charge of Finance Planning Seghir Mostefai, Governor, Banque Centrale d'Algerie Kemal Abdallah-Khoda, Director General of Planning Yahia Khelif, Director of the Treasury and Credit 2. 9/19/70 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance (Copen.) Driss Cjazairi, Delegation member 3. 3/16/71 Charge d'Affaires Abdel Kader Bousselham m,t:},I-/Fc.;..J 4. 4/16/71 Mr. zerouta, Algerian emissary of Finance Minister 1 Chief, 5. 9/14/71 Abdelkader Bousselham,/Algerian Interests Section 6. 10/1/71 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Bouasria Belghoula, President-Director General, Banque Exterieure d'Algerie Seghir Mostefai, Governor, Banque Centrale d'Algerie Hachemi Saibi, Deputy Director of Foreign i nee, Ministry of Finance Driss Djazairi, Director of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdelkader Bousselham, Chief, Algerian Interest Section Mahfoud Zerouta, Adviser, Ministry of Finance Mouloud Tiab, Adviser, Ministry of Finance Hacene Amalou, Adviser, Ministry of ndu try Abdelmalek Temam, President-Director General, Banque Nationale d'Algerie 7. 9/25/72 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Idriss Jazairy, Adviser to the President for Economic and Financial Affairs Mahfoud Zerouta, Technical Adviser, Ministry of Finance Seghir Mostefai, Governor, Central Bank of Algeria Ferhat Lounes, Director of Economic, Cultural and Social Affairs, Ministey of Foreign Affairs Abdelkader Bousselham, Chief of the Algerian Interests Section, Embassy of Guinea Bouasria Belghoula, Director General, Caisse Algerienne de Developpement 8. 11/30/72 Yahia Khelif, Algerian ED 9. 1/25/73 Yahia Khelif, ED, on Compensation for French Properties 10 . . 3/26/73 Smail Mahroug, Finance Minister Abdelkader Bousselham, Chief of the Algerian Interests Section 11. 6/19/73 Mr. Aoufi, Secretary General, Algerian Ministry of Finance Mr. Hassan, Director of Treasury Abdelkader Bousselham, Chief of the Algerian Interests Section 12. 7/31/73 Smail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Abdelkader Bousselham, Chief of the Algerian Interests Section - 2 - 13. 9/27/73 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance (Nairobi) Rachid Hassam, Director of the Treasury and Credit, Ministry of Finance 14. 12/6/73 Belaid Abdesslarn, Minister of Industry and Energy Abdelkader Bousselham, Minister, Algerian Interests Section Mr. Lakhdari, President of SN Repal and Director General of SONATRACH Messrs. Redouane and Maada, Advisers in the Ministry of Industry and Energy Cherif Guellal, Representative of the President of SONATRACH in Washington 15. 12/9/73 Belaid Abdesslam, Minister of Industry and Energy (at Mr. Khelif's) Cherif Guellal, Washington Representative of SONATRACH 3/20/74 Abdelkader Bousselham, 1inister, Algerian Interests Section 16. 3/24-26/74 Smail Mahrough, Minister of Finance (Algeria) Boualem Bessaieh, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdellah Khodja, Secretary of State for Plans Belaid Abdesselam, Minister of Industry Ahmed 1edeghiri, Minister of the Interior Abdelkader Bousselham, Minister, Algerian Interests Section Mr. Aoufi, Secretary General, Ministry of Finance President Houari Boumedienne Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Minister of Foreign Affairs Seghir Mostefai, Governor of the Central Bank Mr. Lunes, Director of Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 17. 6/12/74 Smail Mahroug, Minister of Finance 18. 9/27/74 Smail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Seghir Mostefai, Governor of the Central Bank Rachid Hassam, Director, Treasury, Credi t and Insurance Dept., Ministry of Finance Abdelkader Bousselharn, Minister Plenipotentiary, Chief of the Algerian Interests Section 19. 1/16/75 Smail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Rachid Hassam, Ministry of Finance 20. 5/16/75 Yahia Khelif, Bank ED 21. 8/30/75 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance Rachid Hassam, Director of Treasury, Credit and Insurance, Minister of Finance Abdelkader Maadini, Counselor of Embassy and Charge d'Affaires ad interim 1/6-10/76 Ismail Mahroug, Minister of Finance (Dev.Cte., Kingston) - 3 - 22. 10/7/76 Abdelrnalek Ternan, Minister of Fi~ance (Manila) Rachid Hassarn, Director General, Ministry of Finance Mahmoud Ourabah, Secretary General, Secretariat of State for Planning 12/15/76 Abdellatif Rahal, Ambassador to the UN (New Yorkl (At luncheon hosted by Amb, Akhund of Pakistan) 23. 6/30/77 Ambassador Abdelazia Maoui 24. 9/30/77 Mohamed Seddik Ben Yahia, Minister of Finance Seghir Mostefai, Governor, Central Bank of Algeria Rachid Hassarn, Director General, Ministry of Finance Ambassador Abdelazia Maoui 25 1/29/80 Ambassador Rehda~-Malek * JJhM-e. AA. - oe-1'. J£ . I DEVLE.L.:.OLP:M_.!E..N.LT.L-.;I---o-~1-: ;:T;::E:~RN~A:-T::I INTERNATIONAL ONAXn BANK INTERNATIONAL F t NANCE foRM No. 57 ASSOCIATION REC~ ~~~~~~VELOPMENT CORPORATION OFFICE ME/\1\0RANDUM • TO: Memorandum for Record DATE: October 17, 1968 W- R.H. Springuel FROM: Algeria - Visit of Annual Meeting Delegation to Mr. McNamara SUBJECT: 1. On September 27 at 6 p.m., Mr. McNamara received the visit of the Algerian Delegation composed of: Governor for the Bank Governor for the Fund Cherif BELKACEM Seghir MJSTEFAI Minister of State in Charge of Governor Finance and Planning Banque Centrale d 'Alg~rie Alternate Alternate Kemal ABDALLAH-KHDDJA Yahia KHELIF Director General of Planning Director of the Treasury and Credit. Messrs. Knapp, Lejeune and Springuel were present. 2. The discussion concentrated on the question of compensation for nationalized properties. Mr. McNamara indicated first that he understood that compensation for nationalized properties had loomed large in the relationship between Algeria and the Bank in the past, and he wondered where the issue stood at the moment. At various times subsequently, Mr. McNamara and Mr. Knapp asked for specific information, but the delegation did not seem equipped to give specific answers. 3. The Minister stated the position in very general terms: Nationalization in Algeria was the result of 130 years of colonization; it was necessary for the fundamental reorganization of the econo~ and settlement of such a difficult problem could not be expected quickly. The so-called 11Contentieux Public" (disputes with France on the claims and counter-claims between Governments) had been settled, and the principle of indemnification has been accepted, but, in some cases, it had been found that the nationalized enterprise represented net liabilities rather than assets. 4. Mr. Khelif made a more detailed and somewhat confused description, to the effect that a large part of the issues had already been settled. The settlement between the French and the Algerian Governments related to about NFF 5 billions, and thus had settled the compensation issue in Algeria's official relationship with France. Commercial banks had been nationalized on agreed terms. - 2 - • Memorandum for Record October 17, 1968 There was no problem for land taken over, since the Evian Agreement specified that France would finance the land reform. Moreover, as a gesture of good will, Algeria had paid about NFF 10 million for certain special cases. Since then, there was tacit agreement between the French and Algerian Governments not to raise this issue or the one relating to housing and other buildings abandoned by French settlers. Industry remained the only area of conflict and one of three positions usually had arisen: (i) the claimant had disagreed with the proposed method of evaluation, thus delaying the settlement; (ii) the claimant was not really interested in getting compensation from the Algerian Government, hoping to obtain greater compensation from the French Government; (iii) against certain claims, Algeria could make counter-claims, such as about NFF 250 million against French insurance companies, and various other related claims {but usually not againtst the nationa lized company concerned itself). 5. Noting that the problem of nationalization had been encountered by the Bank in many newly independent countries, Mr. Knapp stressed that the Bank was not seeking that every issue be settled at once, but that a procedure be established for the settlement of the claims, and that some progress be made towards a solution. Mr. Knapp requested that the Bank be kept informed of the situation, and indicated that we would be prepared to send a mission to explore the details. Our main desire was to remove this shadow from our relationship with Algeria. 6. The Mt~ister said he was prepared to consider a mission for this purpose.~Since Mr. McNamara first raised the question of compensation, he would like to know whether it was only a shadow, as mentioned by Mr. Knapp, or whether it was a pre-condition to Bank lending. Mr. McNamara ans-wered that we did not know. If we were to find out that there was no mechanism for the settlement of nationalized property, we would be faced with a serious problem, but we knew so little about the question that we could not give a specific answer to the Minister. We were anxious to establish a working relationship with Algeria, and this was why it would be useful to explore the question thoroughly at a working level. Mr. McNamara concluded that he would be happy if Mr. Lejeune ctould report to him, before the end of the annual meeting, that we had obtained the information needed. i/ In a subsequent meeting, Mr. Abdallah-Khodja indicated that, after reflexion, the Minister would have serious reservations about such a mission, with its implication of the Bank's active intervention in such a delicate matter. UISpringuel: lo cc: Messrs. McNamara Lejeune Knapp Benjenk Masoni/Maubouche