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“Aire, Aire!” resounds through the streets of Candelaria, the colonial old quarter of Bogotá. Every time a group of cyclists comes around the corner, a young man loudly offers to inflate the tires. Also lubricate the chain, adjust the gears and brakes – for a few thousand pesos, the equivalent of one or two euros, he can make bikes fit once more. He has spread out bicycle parts on a blanket, there are two bicycle pumps on the sidewalk, next to them is a stack of tires.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Algerian Abdelmadjid Tebboune signed today, Thursday, in the capital, Moscow, the declaration of “deep partnership” between the two countries, and the two sides described the talks as “fruitful.”

Yesterday, Wednesday, Tebboune began a visit to Russia, his first since assuming power at the end of 2019. It will last for 3 days and discuss “strengthening cooperation between the two countries,” according to a previous official announcement.

For his part, the Algerian president said that he held “fruitful and frank talks with the Russian president”, during which they discussed bilateral relations and regional issues of concern to the two countries.

Tebboune added that there is a consensus of visions between the two countries regarding the Sahara issue, the situation in the Sahel region, the Palestinian issue, and the Libyan file.

The Algerian president thanked Russia “for its support for Algeria’s request to join the BRICS group (which includes China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa).

“We agree on the very turbulent international situation, and therefore we want to expedite our accession to the BRICS bloc, as it is of great benefit to our economy,” he said.

In turn, Putin said, “Algeria is one of the most important strategically friendly countries, and our relationship is constantly evolving,” adding, “We have been cooperating with Algeria in the military field for decades and supporting it in the field of combating terrorism.”

The Russian President also said, “Algeria is developing the atomic energy sector, and we have strong experiences in this field and are ready to cooperate with it,” stressing that it is “a very important partner for Russia on the economic level,” noting that his country has doubled trade exchange with it.

For its part, the Russian Novosti Agency said today, Thursday, that Putin stressed that relations with Algeria “carry special importance for Russia, and are of a strategic nature,” and said that the adoption of the Declaration of Cooperation would be the beginning of a new, more developed stage in bilateral relations between the two countries.

Novosti indicated that Putin and Tebboune also signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of using outer space for peaceful purposes.

She added that the Algerian president suggested during the talks that his country join the BRICS group and work to reduce dependence on the dollar and the euro, and Putin also invited his Algerian counterpart to participate in the Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg at the end of next July.

The EU Commission has classified the Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE as a risk to the security of the EU. Both companies “indeed pose significantly higher risks” than other providers of 5G network services, the authority said in Brussels on Thursday. According to its own statements, it will therefore no longer use the services of the two companies in the future.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton also called on the 27 EU states and telecommunications companies to refrain from using equipment from the two manufacturers in their own networks. “We cannot afford to maintain dependencies that can be used as weapons once morest our common interests,” Breton told reporters. This would “pose too great a risk to our common security,” he added. (afp/apa)