page_title: Abdelaziz Bouteflika
section_title: Foreign policy
hierarchical_section_title: Abdelaziz Bouteflika / Second term as President, 2004–09 / Foreign policy
caption_attribution_description: English: President George W. Bush and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika exchange handshakes at the Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Tōyako Town, Abuta District, Hokkaidō on July 7, 2008. With them are President Dmitriy Medvedev, left, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, right.
context_page_description: Abdelaziz Bouteflika is an Algerian politician who served as President of Algeria for 20 years, from 1999 to his resignation in 2019.
  As President, he presided over the end of the bloody Algerian Civil War in 2002 when he took over the project of Liamine Zéroual, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest. Prior to becoming president, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1963 until 1979 and as President of the United Nations General Assembly for a 1-year term from 1974.
  Bouteflika resigned on 2 April 2019 after months of mass protests. With nearly 20 years in power, he was the longest-serving head of state of Algeria.
context_section_description: During Bouteflika's second term he was sharply critical of the law—passed after the 2005 French riots—ordering French history school books to teach that French colonisation had positive effects abroad, especially in North Africa. The diplomatic crisis which ensued delayed the signing of a friendship treaty between the two countries.
  Ties to Russia were strengthened and Russia agreed to forgive debts if Algeria began buying arms and gave Russian gas companies (Gazprom, Itera, and Lukoil access to joint fossil-fuel ventures in Algeria.
  In 2004 Bouteflika  organised the Arab League Summit and became President of the Arab League for one year. His calls for reform of the League did not gain sufficient support to pass in during the Algiers summit however.
  At the March 2005 meeting of Arab leaders, held in Algiers, Bouteflika spoke out strongly against Israel, "The Israelis' continuous killing and refusal of a comprehensive and lasting peace, which the Arab world is calling for, requires from us to fully support the Palestinian people." Despite criticism from the west, specifically the US, Bouteflika insisted that Arab nations would reform at their own pace.
  Bouteflika remains active in foreign affairs, especially within the region and many of his foreign affairs policies and decisions are characterized by a “principle of non-interference” in other countries affairs. In March 2016, the foreign ministers of the Arab league voted to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization, Bouteflika voted with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to reject the motion.
  In sub-Saharan Africa, a major concern of Bouteflika's Algeria has been on-and-off Tuareg rebellions in northern Mali. Algeria has asserted itself forcefully as mediator in the conflict, perhaps underlining its growing regional influence. Algerian interest is driven by its extensive interests in the region: smuggling routes as well as legal economic activity crosses these virtually unguarded borderlands, and refugees from the conflict have entered southern Algeria to mix with the Tuareg populations there. Also, the area is known as a hideout of a southern branch of AQIM, further heightening Algeria's interest in the area. Compromise peace agreements were reached in 2007 and 2008, both mediated by Algiers. The related Touareg revolt in neighbouring Niger has not seen the same Algerian involvement, even if the anti-government MNJ movement has on at least one occasion called for Algerian mediation similar to in Mali. Algeria's involvement in Africa has otherwise been concerned with supporting the African Union, and been marked by a rapidly strengthening coordination with South Africa, which, among other things, has emerged as Algeria's main ally on the Western Sahara issue.
  All in all, Algeria's foreign policy under Bouteflika remains hinged on same axis as under earlier governments, emphasizing South–South ties, especially with growing Third World powers (China, South Africa, Brazil, etc.) and guarding the country's independence in decision-making vis-a-vis the West, although simultaneously striving for good trade relations and non-confrontational political relations with the EU and USA.
  President of Vietnam Nguyễn Minh Triết, on 16 July 2009, met with Bouteflika on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Egypt. President Triet and Bouteflika agreed that the two countries still have great potential for development of political and trade relations. Triet thanked the Algerian government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group to invest in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Algeria.
caption: Bouteflika with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Tōyako Town, on 7 July 2008.
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