Government Approves Agreement to Resolve Financial Disputes with Algeria

Bratislava, August 28 (TASR) - Algeria should repay Slovakia more than $3.4 million, or €3.04 million, from a loan agreement concluded with Czechoslovakia in 1984, according to a motion approved by the government on Wednesday. A Czechoslovak company named Pragoinvest was at that time supposed to supply Algeria with factories, but did not complete the contracted work. This became the subject of a long-standing dispute between the countries involved. The problems with drawing this loan and the impossibility of obtaining its repayment were caused by the fact that Pragoinvest became insolvent in April 1991, went into liquidation and was subsequently declared bankrupt in 1993. For this reason, the contracted work for Algeria was interrupted and the investment project was not completed," the Finance Ministry explained. The work was subsequently completed by an Italian contractor, incurring additional costs for the Algerian side. The latter refused until 2022 to address its obligation to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which resulted from the completion of part of the work covered by the original contract by Pragoinvest. In 2023, two rounds of negotiations took place in Algiers between Slovak and Czech representatives on one side and representatives of Algeria on the other. The parties agreed, inter alia, that Slovakia and the Czech Republic would not claim interest for delay and that the Algerian side would waive financial claims for lost profits. Algeria should repay the amount calculated on the basis of the completed part of the contract work, after the deduction of additional costs incurred in connection with the completion of the project by a third party, by 2027. The settlement amount will be paid to Slovakia and the Czech Republic separately in six equal instalments, with the first instalment due at the end of September of this year. The total amount will be shared between the Czech Republic and Slovakia in a 2:1 ratio. zel/df