Algerian Prime Minister Sifi Gharib
– The Single Window: A Key to Modernizing the Investment System:
The Algerian government announced a new regulatory phase for the investment system, reducing processing time for investor files to 15 days as a general rule, and 20 days for classified establishments. The Algerian Investment Development Agency (ADIA) is now obligated to respond to requests for economic real estate within 48 hours of its board’s decision. This step aims to eliminate procedural delays, unify administrative channels, and accelerate the transformation of registered projects into actual productive activity.
These directives were outlined in a speech by Prime Minister Sifi Gharib during the opening of a media day on the new legal provisions governing the Single Window for Investment. The government presented the reform as a shift from a fragmented administrative approach to an integrated, results-oriented system, and from a limited intermediary window to a single, effective point of contact with the authority to process, sign, and make decisions in favor of the investor.
– The figures presented by the Prime Minister reveal the scale of the economic stakes associated with this reform. The Algerian Investment Promotion Agency has registered more than 20,000 investment projects since the previous legislation came into effect in 2022, with a total declared value of approximately $67.5 billion, and projections indicating the creation of more than 525,000 jobs. Thus, the issue is no longer simply a matter of limited administrative improvement, but rather a recalibration of one of the most important drivers of non-hydrocarbon economic growth, at a time when Algeria is seeking to broaden its production base, deepen its industrialization, and increase the contribution of private and productive investment to wealth creation.
– Broad powers for the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency:
The new reform is based on addressing the root causes of the problem by making the Algerian Investment Promotion Agency the sole and exclusive point of contact for investors. Representatives of various departments within the one-stop shops will no longer be mere intermediaries transferring files to their respective departments, but will instead become fully empowered decision-makers with the authority to investigate, process, sign, and issue the necessary documents and licenses all in one location. The reform also restructures the role of the one-stop shop, transforming it into a comprehensive platform covering all stages of a project’s lifecycle, from legal establishment to actual operation.
Regarding the real estate sector, the Prime Minister explained that the terms and conditions were also updated to ensure closer monitoring of investors’ commitments and project completion phases. Consequently, granting affordable land is no longer a mere
administrative procedure but has become a tool for guiding investment towards the state’s strategic priorities. Furthermore, the agency’s obligation to respond to investors within 48 hours of the board’s decision eliminates the waiting and uncertainty that previously hampered project design, financing, and scheduling.
In the area of urban development, the new regulations have expanded the responsibilities of the Algerian Investment Development Agency’s one-stop shops to include processing and issuing urban planning permit applications, including building permits and certificates of conformity. This means that investors will have a unified process from the initial permit application to project completion, instead of multiple points of contact and fragmented responsibilities across different agencies.
The reform also includes a significant simplification of administrative procedures by expanding the use of digitalization as the preferred method of communication between investors and the administration. This is not simply a superficial modernization but a mechanism for improving tracking, enhancing transparency, reducing bureaucratic friction, and ensuring precise knowledge of the progress of each file and the entity responsible for its processing.
– Algeria, a Leading Business Hub with Significant Guarantees and Advantages:
This transformation comes within a highly competitive international economic context, where investment attractiveness is no longer measured solely by the availability of natural resources or low costs, but also by the quality of the regulatory framework, the stability of rules, the speed of decision-making, and the clarity of responsibilities. Therefore, through these legislations, Algeria aims to improve its position in attracting productive investments and enhance the integration of its institutions into regional and international value chains, while ensuring that a larger share of the added value remains within the national economy.
Prime Minister Sifi Gharib emphasized that the Investment Law has strengthened legal protections for investors, while the new phase adds a second pillar: simplifying procedures. Thus, the government seeks to build an investment framework based on both legal protection and administrative efficiency, which constitutes one of the essential conditions for transforming Algeria into a land of initiative, attracting capital, and unleashing entrepreneurial potential.
