FOREWORD FOREWORD It gives me great pleasure to present the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Report and the National Programme of Action of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. This is the fourth in the series and the first under my stewardship as the Chairperson of the African Peer Review (APR) Forum. Algeria is a vanguard in the fight for the decolonisation of Africa, and is also the first of the five initiating countries of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to implement the APRM. Having voluntarily acceded to the APRM in March 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria, Algeria exultantly began the task of preparing its selfassessment report. Following the conclusion of the self-assessment process, the Country Review Mission was conducted from 10 November to 5 December 2006, and this culminated in the peer review at the APR Forum Summit in Accra, Ghana, on 1 July 2007. It is a historical achievement and I once again congratulate His Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika on his successful navigation through this all-embracing and very intensive process. As the report highlights, despite a dark decade of terrorism intended to ruin the state, Algeria has achieved major progress in many fields - such as education, health and housing, let alone in the eradication of extreme forms of poverty and the significant reduction of other forms of poverty. The growing credibility achieved at financial, political and diplomatic levels endows the country with an appreciable bargaining power that enables it to claim a new position in the world economy and, above all, the status of an emerging economy. The main challenge ahead consists of sustaining the momentum of the peer-review process through the successful implementation of the Programme of Action arising from the exercise. The APR Forum will maintain sustained interest in the implementation process and will receive Annual Progress Reports thereon. It is noteworthy that Africa's position today is quite different from that which it occupied during the past decade. There is an encouraging economic turnaround, characterised by progress in macro-economic stabilisation, in many countries. This reflects the implementation of sound economic policies, a move towards rules-based institutions, and participatory forms of government that foster consensus between the state and civil society. However, this progress - welcome as it is - has remained too modest to make an impact on the continent's pervasive poverty. Investment has remained subdued, limiting the efforts to diversify economic structures and accelerate human development. Furthermore, a number of countries have only recently emerged from civil wars that have severely hampered development efforts, while a few are still conflict ridden. At the same time, globalisation has raised the stakes by offering greater opportunities for faster economic growth, while significantly increasing the risk of marginalisation for those countries that fail to integrate into the globa l economy.