China and the North African republic of Algeria enjoy deep traditional friendship and have supported each other since the two countries forged diplomatic relations 48 years ago.

China was the first non-Arabic country to recognize the Algerian interim government in 1958. Over the years, the two countries have expanded their ties into political, economic, cultural, health and military fields.

Since the first Chinese medical team arrived in Algeria in 1963, so far more than 2,200 Chinese medical staff have worked there, making great contributions to healthcare improvement in the country.

Algeria was also the destination of China's first international rescue team in 2003, when the northern part of the country was hit by an earthquake.

"These 'three firsts' have demonstrated the deep traditional friendship and the importance the two countries attach to each other," Chinese Ambassador to Algeria Wang Wangsheng was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Ambassador Wang said Algeria made significant contributions to restoring China's legitimate seat in the United Nations as one of the co-sponsors. The other one was Albania.

He said many Algerians in the capital city Algiers are able to say "hello" in Chinese and consider the Chinese as friends.

In a joint communiqu issued during President Hu Jintao's state visit to the African nation in 2004, the two countries pledged to strengthen economic and trade co-operation within the bilateral partnership framework and expand such co-operation to cover oil and natural gas exploitation, infrastructure construction, telecommunications and human resources.

Wang, who has worked at his current post for more than four years, said China and Algeria are highly complementary in economic and trade co-operation, and the bilateral trade volume has enjoyed remarkable progress especially in the new century.

The trade between the two countries amounted to US$1.8 billion last year and reached US$948 million in the first six month of this year, 5.9 per cent up on the same period last year, Wang said.

Currently about 30 Chinese companies are doing business in Algeria and the major sectors are agriculture, construction, energy and transportation.

Source: China Daily