Among the few non-oil investments mooted by international investors, the proposed construction of a car-manufacturing plant in Algeria by Renault, a French automaker, is "well advanced", Mr Benmeradi stated in late March on national radio. The government has proposed that Renault build a plant with capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year, and has given the company a list of 50 local subcontractors that it wishes to be integrated into the manufacturing process. There is considerable scepticism among analysts and investors as to whether the plans will go ahead. A Renault plant in Algeria has been discussed for many years, but the company's decision to build a plant in neighbouring Morocco with capacity of 400,000 vehicles a year means that a plant in Algeria is not commercially justified, say analysts. The deal could be pursued for political reasons, however. The French government is keen to strengthen commercial ties with Algeria. France's special envoy and former prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, visited Algiers in February in an attempt to give political momentum to French investment in the country, and a Franco-Algerian investment forum is planned for the end of May. Algeria meanwhile is determined to develop a domestic car-manufacturing industry, in order to replace car imports, which currently number about 120,000 vehicles a year. Either way, any deal with Renault is likely to be a long way off. There are still a "tremendous amount" of questions to address, according to Mr Benmeradi, who added that industrial partnerships normally take "six to eight months" to reach an initial agreement, which is then followed "more detailed" memoranda. A similar deal is under discussion with Volkswagen of Germany, but this is at an even earlier stage of development. Partnership deals will be announced soon with German companies for the construction of agricultural vehicles, according to Mr Benmeradi. Aaber Investments, an Abu Dhabi government-linked company and the largest shareholder in Daimler, announced a joint venture with the government in March 2010 in which it said it would set up manufacturing plants with Daimler and four other German firms to build 10,000 cars and trucks a year. Daimler has also signed a deal to build trucks for Algeria's army. Production of 7,500 trucks a year will begin in the Rouiba district of Algiers in 2013, increasing to 15,000 trucks a year after four years, said Mr Benmeradi. Once the domestic car industry is up and running, the government will re-introduce consumer credit facilities, prohibited in July 2009 for all but housing loans, said Mr Djoudi on March 8th.

The evaluation of Djezzy, the local operations of Egypt-based Orascom Telecom, being carried out by a US law firm Shearman & Sterling, will be completed by the end of May, according to the telecommunications minister, Moussa Benhamadi, speaking to the Reuters news agency at the beginning of March. The merger of Wind Telecom, which owns a majority stake in Orascom Telecom, with Vimpelcom of Russia, was approved by a narrow margin on March 17th. The new company is "talking" to the Algerian government about its plans for Djezzy, according to the chief executive of Wind, Khaled Bichara. The government has made it clear that it wants to buy Djezzy, but has left open the possibility of forming a joint venture with a strategic partner.