The management unit for Algeria-European Union association agreement's supportprogramme (UGP3A) has announced the signing of four twinning agreements ontrade and agriculture."Four new twinning agreements relating to trade and agriculture were signed inMarch," Abdelaziz Guend, the director of the P3A told reporters on Monday, addingthat the implementation of the agreements will take 24 months.The first twinning agreement provides for boosting operational capacities of theNational Agency for Promotion of Foreign Trade (ALGEX).European partner institutions are the French agency for international businessdevelopment (UBI France) and Austria's Agency for Cooperation and Economicdevelopment."The twinning agreement is meant to contribute to restore Algeria's non-hydrocarbon balance of trade," Guend said, adding that a total of EUR1.450 millionhave been devoted to the operation.The second twinning agreement aims at strengthening the controlling capacity ofthe veterinary department to bring them closer to European and internationalstandards.The partners in the project (EUR1.492 million) are the French ministry of Agriculture,Food processing and forest and the Italian ministry of Health.The third twinning projects is about upgrading the laboratories of the nationalInstitute of the veterinary medicine so as to comply with European and internationalstandards through the support of the Italian ministry of health and the Frenchministry of Agriculture with a budget EUR1.450 million."Those two twinning agreements are intended to improve health security of animalfood to support their marketing in the Algerian domestic market and facilitate theirexports to the European Union and other countries worldwide."The fourth twinning project provides for the strengthening of devices used inrecognition of the quality of agricultural produce, with the assistance of the Frenchministry of Agriculture and the Italian ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestpolicies.The four projects will be launched in the coming weeks.