VZCZCXRO8209
PP RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAS #0223/01 0621703
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031703Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7141
INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0244
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0892
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 1179
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 1872
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6685
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3066
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2696
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7558
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ALGIERS 000223 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/RA, OES, AND AIAG 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL 
USDA FOR FOREST SERVICE/INTERNATIONAL 
INTERIOR FOR INTERNATIONAL/WASHBURNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPL SENV EINV PGOV AG
SUBJECT: EXPANDING ESTH OPPORTUNITIES IN ALGERIA 
 
REF: RABAT 106 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph 11. 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Algerian government ministries would like 
to engage in greater cooperation with the USG pursuant to our 
2006 Science and Technology (ST) Agreement.  During a visit 
of the ESTH Regional Hub Officer, officials at the Ministry 
of Higher Education and Scientific Research (the Algerian 
signatory to the ST Agreement) told us they would be 
interested in a Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) to develop 
networks and co-funded collaborations between Algerian and 
American experts and institutions in priority areas focused 
on scientific research and research application.  The 
Ministry of Health is likewise interested in expertise 
exchanges in medical research and application.  Government 
officials and professors told us that Algeria recently 
enhanced its ST capacity through a newly enacted law and the 
establishment of an autonomous scientific research 
administration to align ST spending with national priorities 
in areas such as water, environment, renewable energy, 
agriculture, and materials sciences.  Health ministry 
officials claim to be well prepared for a possible pandemic, 
and believe that while Algeria has never had a reported case 
of avian flu, the ministry's surveillance and reaction 
systems are robust.  Officials at the Ministry of Environment 
told us that climate change is a key environmental, economic 
and political issue for Algeria, because of the physical 
effects of desertification and the expected challenge the 
country would face from "environmental migrants" coming from 
across the African continent and transiting Algeria to reach 
Europe.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ST AGREEMENT: PRESSING FOR NEXT STEP 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) We continue to engage the Algerians in cooperative 
activities related to our 2006 Science and Technology (ST) 
Agreement, including an ongoing relationship with Algeria's 
Atomic Regulatory Agency (COMENA) and the Ministry of Energy 
and Mines regarding nuclear technology and materials 
handling, as well as a Sister Labs Agreement with the U.S. 
Department of Energy resulting in several related exchanges. 
Dozens of Algerians have also benefited from USG training in 
IPR, telecommunications broadband and spectrum management, 
environmental stewardship, breast cancer awareness, wooden 
sea-vessel construction, and meteorology.  A partnership with 
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) also supports seismic 
monitoring in Algeria.  We are exploring additional 
collaborations including a virtual library concept, expertise 
sharing for the construction of a maritime museum in Algiers, 
and a project with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute 
(WHOI) to map the Bay of Algiers for cultural and seismic 
research. 
 
¶4. (SBU) During the recent visit of the ESTH Regional Hub 
Officer, officials at the Ministry of Higher Education and 
Scientific Research described Algeria's efforts over the last 
decade to enhance scientific research and align it with 
national goals.  A 2008 law updated the original 1998 
codification of national research priorities and an 
administration for scientific research was established with 
its own financing and staffing.  According to Arezki Saidani, 
director of international cooperation at the ministry, there 
are ten interagency sectoral commissions to coordinate and 
implement science and technology programs in priority areas 
such as water, health, bio-technology, renewable energy, and 
material sciences. The scientific research administration 
also established an innovation department to create bridges 
between academic research and industry.  Three regional, 
university-based incubation/tech-transfer centers are planned 
for Algeria: one that is just coming online in Tlemcen 
focused on agriculture, one in Setif focused on electronics, 
and one in Bejaia focused on agro-processing. 
 
ALGIERS 00000223  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Professor Hafid Aourag, director general of the 
scientific research administration, told us that Algeria has 
2500 full-time academic researchers at 19 research centers, 
and 17,000 part-time researchers among Algerian universities. 
 He estimated that 20 percent of Algerian researchers have 
studied in the U.S.  Aourag said that the government 
commitment to scientific research has increased from 34 
billion dinars in 1998 to 108 billion dinars (USD 1.5 
billion) in 2008; equivalent, he said, to approximately 1.7 
percent of Algeria's GDP.  There are 7.8 million students in 
the school system, he told us, and 1.2 million public 
university students, including 34,000 in masters and doctoral 
programs.  Another 600,000 students pursue vocational 
training programs.  Aourag said that approximately 25 percent 
of the national budget is spent on education for 9.6 million 
students, which represents almost one-third of the Algerian 
population.  Ten thousand foreign students from 60 countries 
also attend Algerian universities, he added. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Both Saidani and Aourag stressed their desire to add 
a "roadmap" framework to our ST agreement and offered to host 
an initial meeting of experts in Algeria to develop networks 
between American and Algerian institutions in priority areas. 
 They committed to sending us their top priorities with 
points of contacts for such a meeting, which would likely 
include the areas of water, health, biotechnology, renewable 
energy, agro-development and nutrition, and natural sciences. 
 Algeria's goals from the agreement would include 
strengthening U.S.-Algeria ST cooperation, increasing 
Algerian linkages to U.S. research centers and universities, 
obtaining American expertise in the area of innovation and 
technology transfer, and partnering with institutions such as 
the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen Algerian capacity to 
manage research grants and govern research priorities and 
institutions.  Director General Aourag and Director of 
Cooperation Saidani were clear that they expected to co-fund 
any such efforts, and welcomed American experts to Algeria 
for consultative visits. 
 
ALGERIA CLAIMS PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) In an unusually warm and friendly meeting at the 
health ministry (MOH), officials in charge of medical 
research and infectious and chronic diseases outlined their 
major goals and their preparedness for pandemics.  They told 
us the country's 150,000 public health workers provide health 
care delivery services throughout Algeria while also managing 
population planning, research and prevention through hospital 
reform. They said private clinics in Algeria supplement the 
public health care system -- essentially free for the entire 
population -- creating a network of coverage of two to four 
hospitals per wilaya (province) on average, with more in 
urban areas.  They told us that, like many developing 
countries, chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, 
and respiratory diseases) are becoming more prevalent than 
infectious diseases.  Dr. Ghania Merbout, Deputy Director for 
Infectious Diseases, was very proud of the country's 
surveillance and detection system, noting that a strong field 
alert system is in place for detecting any possible 
outbreaks. An avian influenza (AI) simulation exercise was 
done in 2006, and a national committee coordinates AI 
preparedness with regional, provincial and municipal 
authorities.  While Algeria has not detected any cases of 
animal or human avian influenza, the MOH believes it is well 
prepared for any possible pandemic.  The health officials 
told us Tamiflu stocks are maintained throughout the hospital 
system, although they were unwilling to share how many doses 
were kept or how many people would be covered. 
 
¶8. (SBU) MOH officials, like their Ministry of Higher 
Education and Scientific Research colleagues, promised to 
 
ALGIERS 00000223  003 OF 004 
 
 
send to us a list of priority areas in which we could enhance 
cooperation, noting that they are particularly interested in 
hands-on training for doctors and health workers in Algeria. 
 
CLIMATE CHANGE TOPS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU)  In a meeting at the Ministry of Urban Development, 
Environment and Tourism, Director of International 
Cooperation Abdelkader Mekideche and climate change 
consultant Mostefa Kara focused on climate change in Africa 
and on the expected impact of desertification and migration 
patterns.  They told us the ministry includes 1000 staff 
across the 48 wilayas responsible for general environmental 
management.  Mekideche said that various Algerian laws govern 
environmental management, biodiversity, coastal zone 
management, waste management and protection of endangered 
species.  He also stressed that the ministry supports the 
government's strategic goals of promoting economic 
development in the high-plateau regions so that urban 
pressures on the crowded coastal areas may be reduced. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Perhaps because domestic environmental management 
is linked closely to President Bouteflika's current 
development goals, discussion of global climate change 
dominated our meeting, as Kara described his work at the 
National Agency for Climate Change.  Kara referred to the 
group statement that emerged from the African ministerial 
conference on climate change hosted by Algeria in November 
2008, and said that Algeria will lead this forum for the next 
two years.  On the Arab front, Kara said Algeria plans to 
draft a pan-Arab plan of action to be presented at the 
December 2009 Copenhagen climate change meetings, similar to 
the pan-African statement that was produced here in November. 
 Kara told us that Algeria will likely suffer in the future 
from reduced rainfall, increased desertification, reduced 
food security (as the plateaus receive less rainfall), and an 
increased spread of diseases, all as a result of climate 
change on the continent.  Both men expressed a deep fear 
that, due to desertification, throngs of "climatic migrants," 
mostly from sub-Saharan Africa but from other regions as 
well, would flood into Algeria with the ultimate goal of 
reaching Europe.  Kara also bemoaned the fact that, because 
of the low contribution to greenhouse emissions, Africa is 
neglected in climate change discussions by the European Union 
and to a degree by the U.S. 
 
ACTION REQUEST 
-------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Embassy requests Department guidance regarding the 
Algerian offer to host a Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) to 
provide additional momentum to our ST agreement.  Embassy 
supports the request and suggests that the fall of 2009 would 
be a suitable timeframe for such a meeting.  ESTH Regional 
Hub Officer notes a Moroccan request for a JCM (reftel), 
raising the possibility that a USG delegation to the Maghreb 
might hold sequential JCMs.  We will seek additional guidance 
on any specific requests for training that may arrive from 
Algerian ministries per above. 
 
¶12. (SBU) In separate meetings, the ESTH Regional Hub Officer 
briefed us on a proposal to establish an Arab-American 
Science Partnership (AASP) with the goal of enhancing 
scientific research and collaborations to strengthen 
bilateral ties and promote economic development, employment, 
and innovation in Algeria and the region.  We believe such a 
focused science diplomacy program with societal and economic 
benefits could promote the U.S. image and USG interests in 
Algeria, and look forward to reviewing details as the idea 
develops. 
 
¶13. (U)  This cable was coordinated with ESTH Regional Hub 
Officer Manu Bhalla, Embassy Amman. 
 
ALGIERS 00000223  004 OF 004 
 
 
PEARCE