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Algeria Gate: The “Baladna Algeria” project for milk and dairy production in Adrar has entered its heavy implementation phase with a total investment of approximately $3.5 billion. It is the largest integrated agricultural and industrial dairy project in Africa and the Arab world, and one of the biggest of its kind globally. Its significance goes far beyond the production of milk powder. It builds a complete national system that starts with forage cultivation and cattle breeding, passes through milking and industrial processing, and extends to cheeses, leben, raib, yoghurt and other value-added products.

The project covers 117,000 hectares in Adrar; an area that dwarfs Baladna’s existing base in Qatar. In herd size alone, the Algerian project aims for around 270,000 cows, compared with roughly 23,000 in the company’s Qatari facilities, nearly twelve times larger. Measured by herd size and agricultural-industrial capacity, the Adrar complex is about ten times bigger than the Doha experience.

These figures show that Algeria is not simply copying Qatar’s self-sufficiency model. It is scaling it up for a market of more than 47 million people with high demand for milk powder and its derivatives. The project is structured around three integrated poles, each combining a farm for grain and forage, a unit for cattle breeding and milk and meat production, and a factory for transforming raw milk into powder and processed products.

The operation is carried out through “Baladna Algeria”, owned 51% by the Qatari Baladna Group and 49% by the Algerian state through the National Investment Fund. This structure makes Algeria a capital partner, not a passive provider of land and facilities. It places the project firmly under national food-security policy and the drive to cut the import bill.

This model reflects one of the clearest features of the economic openness led by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune: attracting foreign investment that creates productive assets, transfers technology and localises expertise, rather than opening the market to mere import-and-resale operations. The Qatari partner is not coming to market finished products. It is investing billions of dollars in land, water, farms, factories, equipment and livestock, while Algerian companies take part in construction, subcontracting and services.

In this way the relationship with foreign capital shifts from the logic of a consumer market to the logic of a productive base. That transformation is the essence of Algeria’s new investment policy under President Tebboune: privileges, land and facilities are granted only in return for tangible projects, jobs, higher local production and reduced external dependence.

In its latest financial and operational disclosure, Baladna confirmed that works in Adrar advanced during the first half of 2026. Groundwater facilities and irrigation networks were expanded, agricultural activities began in the spring season with the cultivation of fodder maize and Sudanese sorghum, and the first harvests of barley and wheat were completed. Civil works on cattle farms and processing facilities progressed in parallel with design and engineering for the factories and shared services. The project has moved from studies and contracts to the actual formation of its productive base. The land is already producing forage for the herd before the first cows arrive.

The Qatari group classifies the Algeria project as the cornerstone of its international expansion and one of the most important drivers of its long-term growth outside the Qatari market. This status reflects not only the attractiveness of the Algerian market but the success of the authorities in turning food security into a sector capable of attracting global capital and expertise.

The total value of the first two packages of executive contracts exceeded $1.135 billion. The first package, signed in July 2025, surpassed $500 million and covered agricultural and irrigation equipment, well drilling, metal structures, milking and processing systems, as well as engineering, consultancy and project management. The second package, signed in April 2026, exceeded $635 million and included civil works, agricultural facilities, residential infrastructure, concrete plants, land levelling, expansion of irrigation networks, and the programme for purchasing and transporting dairy cows to Algeria.

These contracts show that the project does not rely on a single foreign company that completes the work and leaves. It rests on a network of Algerian and international firms. National companies active in well drilling, public works, land levelling and the construction of structures and housing have been awarded contracts, while other local firms handle subcontracting in electricity, transport, timber, equipment, maintenance and logistics.

This subcontracting spreads the economic impact beyond the joint-venture company. Every farm or factory requires electrical networks, internal roads, storage and refrigeration facilities, transport means, metal and wooden structures, as well as maintenance, monitoring, security, catering and accommodation services. The investment value is thus transformed into orders, wages and contracts that benefit Algerian small and medium-sized enterprises, rather than flowing entirely to equipment suppliers abroad.

The operational phase will generate permanent demand for veterinarians, agricultural engineers, irrigation, milking, refrigeration and food-processing technicians, as well as truck drivers and workers in laboratories, maintenance, packaging and storage. Basic estimates speak of around 5,000 permanent jobs, rising to more than 15,000 when construction, subcontracting, supply-chain and indirect service jobs are included.

The project’s impact is therefore not limited to the number of workers inside the farms and factories. It is building a new local economy in Adrar. The province, long associated with Saharan agriculture and services, is gradually becoming a hub that combines industrial agriculture, cattle breeding, food processing and logistics, thereby increasing demand for housing, transport, training, maintenance and supporting businesses.

In November 2026 the project will begin an air transport programme to bring in 30,000 Holstein Friesian dairy cows from the United States. The animals will be transported on 109 flights over ten months, at a rate of approximately 300 head per flight and about ten flights per month. The herd will come from nine American states: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, California, Kansas, Iowa and Indiana. The estimated value of the purchase, transport and logistics programme ranges between $250 and $300 million, underlining the scale and veterinary and logistical complexity of the operation.

Meanwhile, the German company GEA is supplying the core technological link for the milking and processing system under a contract valued at between €140 and €170 million; one of the largest single orders received by several of its divisions in their history. GEA’s equipment includes large automatic milking parlours, separation, filtration and heat-treatment systems, evaporation and spray-drying units, packaging and automation lines, as well as equipment for producing anhydrous milk fat. Technology thus extends from handling milk as soon as it leaves the farm to transforming and packaging it as a final product ready for storage and distribution.

GEA describes the facility as the largest of its kind in the world and has set the end of 2027 as the start date for the first production of milk powder, before volumes are gradually increased. It has estimated the capacity of the industrial unit covered by its contract at around 100,000 tonnes per year, while the full project concepts, across its different poles and stages, target nearly 194,000 tonnes annually.

It is necessary to distinguish between the capacity of the first facility to enter operation and the final capacity of all project components. The figure of 194,000 tonnes will not be achieved as soon as the first factory starts; it will come after the completion of stages, the increase in the number of cows, the expansion of forage production and the entry into service of additional units. The established strategic objective is to cover up to 50% of Algeria’s needs for milk powder.

The milk-powder import bill is estimated, depending on the year, prices and volumes, at between $800 million and more than $1 billion. Imports of certain categories of concentrated and dried milk have exceeded $1.2 billion in years of high prices. Therefore the start-up of the project does not mean that the Treasury will automatically receive $1.2 billion in annual revenue. Rather, once the targeted capacities are reached, Algeria will be able to retain a substantial portion of the foreign currency that was previously spent on purchasing milk powder from abroad. Since the project aims to cover roughly half of demand, the direct savings will be calculated on the basis of the value of imports actually replaced, after deducting operating costs and imported equipment and inputs.

Nevertheless, the economic gain is broader than a simple reduction of the bill. The amount that used to leave the country to buy a finished product will partly be recirculated within the national economy in the form of wages, transport contracts, electricity, maintenance, forage, packaging and services. Permanent agricultural and industrial assets will also be created, instead of consuming hard currency on imports whose value ends once they are distributed.

The project does not stop at milk powder. The integrated structure of the herd and factories opens the way, in later stages, to the production of pasteurised milk, leben, raib, yoghurt, cheeses, butter, cream and other food components. It is also expected to supply the market with red meat and contribute to the development of the national herd.

Expansion into these products represents the higher stage in terms of added value, because producing cheese, yoghurt and other dairy derivatives allows an increase in the return obtained from each litre, the building of local brands, a reduction in imports of other processed products, and the opening of export possibilities to Sahel and West African markets once a competitive surplus is achieved.

Adrar’s location also gives the project a natural outlet toward African markets south of Algeria. If the phase of meeting national demand succeeds and productive efficiency rises, the province can be transformed into a base for exporting milk powder and long-shelf-life products to Sahel countries that themselves depend on imports and suffer from a weak local dairy industry.

As for France, there are no reliable official data allowing the claim that the French government has announced its rejection of the project. However, its commercial effects cannot please traditional European milk exporters, including French companies, because covering half of Algerian demand means the contraction of a large external market that used to absorb hundreds of thousands of tonnes annually.

Algeria is one of the world’s largest markets for milk powder; its imports in recent years have ranged between 350,000 and 440,000 tonnes per year. A report by the US Department of Agriculture showed that the country imported around 419,000 tonnes in 2022 and a similar quantity in 2023, with an annual value estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture at around $800 million before subsequent price surges.

When Algeria moves from importing these quantities to producing a large part of them locally, the loss does not fall on a single supplier but on a whole system of exporters, intermediary companies, transport and insurance. The commercial unease is therefore understandable among those who have long regarded the Algerian market as a permanent outlet for European industrial surpluses.

The strength of the approach led by President Tebboune lies in the fact that the response has not come through slogans or isolated ban decisions, but through the construction of a productive alternative. Algeria is not simply replacing the French supplier with another foreign supplier; it is gradually replacing imported milk with farms, factories, a herd and production on its own soil.

Success nevertheless remains linked to the efficient management of groundwater, the productivity of forage, the health of the herd, the ability of the facilities to operate in Saharan climatic conditions, and control of production costs. It also requires ensuring the integration of Algerian companies in maintenance, manufacturing and packaging, so that dependence does not shift from importing milk powder to permanent importation of equipment, spare parts and technical services.

The path recorded so far shows that the project is advancing according to a clear productive sequence: drilling wells and completing irrigation, then cultivating forage and harvesting the first crops, followed by the construction of farms and factories, before receiving the herd and starting production at the end of 2027. This sequence gives the project a field foundation that is not available in projects that remain for years at the level of memoranda of understanding.

In the final analysis, “Baladna Algeria” is not merely a giant dairy farm. It is a project to restructure the milk market and build a new food industry in the south. It is the largest in Africa and the Arab world in terms of its announced integrated scope, exceeds by several times the parent company’s experience in Qatar, and directs more than $3.5 billion into agriculture, breeding, processing and services.

It also repositions Adrar on the economic map, provides thousands of jobs, opens a wide market for Algerian subcontracting companies in electricity, transport, timber, construction and maintenance, and prepares the transition from milk powder to cheeses, yoghurt, leben, raib and other derivatives.

Most importantly, the project offers a practical translation of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s openness to productive foreign investment: a partnership in which the state retains a 49% share, brings in financing and global expertise, builds capacities inside Algeria, and confronts a heavy import bill with a more sustainable tool than administrative restrictions. If the end-2027 deadlines are met and capacities gradually rise to their target levels, Algeria will have transformed one of the largest items of its food dependence into a national industry and deprived traditional suppliers of a market that for years was a stable source of their revenues.

Algeria Gate: Algeria has established a specialised Algerian Centre for Training in Peacekeeping under Presidential Decree No. 26-280 of 10 Rabi’ al-Awwal 1448, corresponding to 23 August 2026, published in Official Gazette No. 63 of 1 September 2026.

The decree defines the centre’s missions, organisation and operating procedures with the aim of strengthening Algeria’s training and qualification capacities in the field of peace support and peacekeeping operations.

The centre is a public administrative institution with legal personality and financial autonomy, placed under the authority of the Ministry of National Defence. Its headquarters is in Algiers and may be relocated elsewhere on national territory by decision of the Minister of National Defence.

Training for national and foreign military and civilian personnel

The centre will train national military and civilian personnel as well as foreigners involved in peace support and peacekeeping operations. It may also organise on-demand training courses for national and foreign civilian executives, in addition to national and international seminars, lectures and study days in its areas of competence.

Training programmes will be designed in accordance with the standards adopted by the United Nations, the African Union and the League of Arab States, ensuring full compliance with international frameworks in the field of peacekeeping.

Wide-ranging missions: training, studies and research

The centre is tasked with preparing and implementing training programmes, evaluating pedagogical activities, organising examinations and deliberations, and appointing examination board members. It will also issue opinions on draft training agreements and on the acquisition of documents, equipment and teaching materials, and will submit periodic pedagogical evaluation reports to the director.

Beyond training, the centre may conduct studies and research in its field of competence for national and foreign military and civilian institutions, and establish cooperation and exchange relations with similar scientific and professional bodies, whether military or civilian, national or foreign.

Pedagogical Council to oversee programmes

A Pedagogical Council will monitor the content of training programmes, evaluate pedagogical activities, oversee examinations and appoint board members. It will also give opinions on training-related agreements and on the acquisition of teaching resources. The Council will include representatives of the Ministry of National Defence, the ministry responsible for foreign affairs and the ministry responsible for higher education. Its composition and working methods will be determined by decision of the Minister of National Defence.

Director’s responsibilities

The director will manage the centre in accordance with applicable regulations, propose its internal organisation, prepare the draft internal regulations, and exercise hierarchical and disciplinary authority over staff. He will ensure the application of pedagogical, administrative, financial and accounting rules, prepare and implement the budget, authorise expenditure, and conclude contracts and agreements within the legal framework. He will also represent the centre in legal proceedings and in all civil matters.

National and international expertise

The centre may call upon national and foreign experts, professors and trainers, including active or retired military personnel, as well as research professors from the Ministry of Higher Education and part-time trainers from other sectors.

Financial framework

The centre’s budget will consist of state subsidies, revenues from its activities, and donations and bequests. Accounting will follow public accounting rules, and the centre will be subject to the control mechanisms of the Ministry of National Defence.

With this institutional framework, Algeria is consolidating a specialised national capacity for peacekeeping training that combines military and civilian instruction, research and international cooperation, grounded in United Nations, African and Arab standards — further reinforcing Algeria’s recognised expertise and role in peace support operations.

Algeria Gate: Algerian security services have revealed significant details surrounding the seizure of more than two quintals of cocaine in Oran, western Algeria, with the shipment originating from Morocco.

In a high-quality operation carried out last week, the operational services of Oran wilaya security dismantled the organisational structure of an international organised criminal network directed by Moroccan barons and seized 2 quintals and 28 kilograms of cocaine.

According to an official statement, the operation followed precise and intensive intelligence work by the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) in coordination with elements of the 20th urban security station in the El Berki neighbourhood. It foiled a plan to transport the cocaine shipment from the south-west of the country to Oran, concealed in the structural cavities of a vehicle-towing truck.

The operation also uncovered the network’s method of laundering criminal proceeds under the cover of car dealerships.

Twenty members of the criminal network were arrested, including three women and one Moroccan national. Authorities seized 46 vehicles, 812 million centimes in national currency, as well as sums in euros, Moroccan dirhams and UAE dirhams.

All those arrested were brought before the Public Prosecutor at the specialised criminal pole in Oran.