Spain takes part, together with France, in the European Twinning Project on Civil Protection in Algeria

The seminar included the presence of the Home Affairs Ministers of France and Algeria, Bruno Leroux and Noureddine Bedoui, respectively, as well as the heads of civil protection of the three Mediterranean countries, including the Director-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies of Spain, Juan Díaz Cruz, and the Ambassador of the European Union to Algeria, John O'Rourke.

Luis Aguilera stressed the importance of this type of project that enables collaboration with our southern neighbours in such sensitive areas for the population as civil protection. In this regard, the under-secretary recalled that the Ministry of Home Affairs of Spain also collaborates with Algeria on another similar project relating to road safety issues.

On this occasion, he said, "the detailed work programme drawn up jointly by the competent directorates-general of civil protection, together with the high level of training and experience of the technical team tasked with carrying out the project, are a guarantee of success for a project that underscores the wonderful relations between the three countries".

Nine experts from the National Civil Protection System will advise the Algerian authorities

The Under-secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Luis Aguilera, underlined Spain's interest in signing up to this project, which seeks to strengthen the safety of the population and improve the quality of the capabilities of the civil protection services of Algeria.

Luis Aguilera also pointed out that our participation basically consists of sending experts to teach training courses and share experiences in managing emergencies. For this reason, he said, "we have selected a total of nine experts from the Directorate-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, from the Civil Protection Units of the Government Delegations and Sub-delegations, as well as from the Military Emergency Unit (Spanish acronym: UME) and the university, which will deploy to Algeria on various occasions to undertake different activities".

These activities include the systematisation of the lessons learned on emergencies, information and raising awareness among the population of the risks, as well as the development of training areas for special missions (underwater rescue operations and operations in dangerous environments), and the development of a structure to plan a return to normality following emergencies.

Within the framework of this project, the Spanish Directorate-General of Civil Protection also organised a study trip for Algerian students to the National Civil Protection School (Spanish acronym: ENPC).