According to a statement issued by French Foreign Ministry “French Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs and Finance met on 29 October with their Algerian counterparts [in Paris] to seek how they could bolster bilateral partnership during the 5th Franco-Algerian Joint Economic Committee (COMEFA)”. French Ministers said “several agreements should be signed on this occasion, in particular to initiate the establishment of a bilateral investment fund, but also in the areas of vocational training, agriculture and industrial risk management,” noting that this year’s COMEFA would aim at taking stock of the two countries’ economic cooperation and seeking ways to strengthen it. In addition to business agreements, Le Drian and his Algerian counterpart Abdelkader Messahel discussed security and regional issues, such as, the situation in Libya, the Sahel, the fight against terrorism and smuggling, particularly of human beings. According to official data, Algeria is France’s main trading partner with a trade exchange of 8.3 billion euros in 2017.