People's Democratic Republic of Algeria celebrates its National Day

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria celebrates its National Day today, in commemoration of the Revolution for National Independence of the Algerian people. Algeria has another national day – Independence Day on July 5 – in remembrance of independence from France in 1962.

Algeria is bordered by Tunisia in the northeast, Libya in the east, Niger in the southeast, Mali and Mauritania in the southwest, and Morocco as well as a few kilometers of the Western Sahara in the west. Algeria is the largest country on the Mediterranean Sea, the second largest on the African continent and the 11th largest country in the world in land area.

In 1954, Ahmed Ben Bella joined other Algerian exiles in Egypt to form the National Liberation Front, which launched its bid for Algerian independence on November 1, 1954. The Front waged coordinated attacks in various parts of the Algerian capital, targeting public buildings, police and military posts, and communication installations. The struggle ended in 1962 and Ben Bella became the first Algerian head of government.

Algeria is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. The chief mineral products are hydrocarbons – crude petroleum and natural gas – from the Sahara. Hydrocarbons account for 60 percent of Algeria’s budget revenues, 30 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and more than 95 percent of export revenues. Algeria possesses some of the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world and is one of the world’s top natural gas exporters. Other minerals include coal, lead, phosphate, iron ore, and zinc.

Algeria is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Arab League. It contributed the creation of the Arab Maghreb Union.

We congratulate the government and people of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria led by H.E., President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and H.E., Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, on the occasion of their National Day.