France tries to regain position of Algeria's largest economic partner

France is currently deploying its political and diplomatic means in order to regain the leading position of Algeria's largest economic partner, the visiting French senate speaker Gerard Larcher said on Friday.

Larcher said France urges more companies to enter Algeria and further promote its interests in this Northern African market.

"We want, in France (all political trends included), to make the relationship between Algeria and France, a priority," Larcher said.

According to an Algerian official, France has carried out investments worth more than two billion euros in Algeria in the last decade, which made France the largest foreign investor in Algeria.

During his four day visit from Tuesday, Larcher also discussed with senior Algerian officials the ways to make investment laws more flexible, in a bid to boost the development of the Algerian economy.

Trade exchange between the two countries exceeded 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, according to official figures.

France is the third largest customer of Algeria with 6.74 billion dollars, after Spain and Italy, and the second largest supplier of Algeria with six billion dollars after China.