FOREWORD Harnessing Africa's immense potential is thus a global priority for the 21 st century. Our common challenge is to build the future on accelerated development and shared growth through reduced unemployment, higher living standards, less poverty and deprivation, and a redistribution of wealth and income in favour of the poor. The African Union (AU), with its vision of economic integration across the continent and its APRM, will surely play an increasingly pivotal role in bringing about this transformation. The APRM is a bold and unique African-owned initiative designed to ensure that the policies and practices of participating countries conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate-governance values, codes and standards contained in the NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. It aims to set in motion a strategic re-orientation towards the validation of universal as well as African values of governance, and to accelerate the process of national growth and development, intra-African co-operation and integration. The APRM is becoming a prime mover of the African renaissance and the centrepiece of the NEPAD process for the socio-economic development of Africa. As an instrument for peer learning and experience sharing, the APRM should not be construed as a scorecard of a pass-or-fail nature, or as a new conditionality for donor assistance. It should rather be viewed as an instrument for improving governance and building consensus amongst all stakeholders for development within a state, while sharing best practices and problem-solving techniques across states. At this juncture, I would like to thank the government of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, its people and the other countries participating in the APRM for their demonstration of determination and commitment that enabled us to arrive at this stage of implementation of the mechanism as a whole. I am extending the same gratitude to my peers in the APR Forum for their invaluable contribution to the success of the review. This report owes much to the commitment and dedication of the seven-member APR Panel of Eminent Persons and the APRM Secretariat. Finally, I thank the team involved in the preparation of the report - which the indefatigable Madame Marie-Angelique Savane led tirelessly and energetically - for investing generously of their time and effort in conducting the studies and writing the report that constitutes the basis of the peer review of one of Africa's vanguards in the fight for the decolonisation of our continent - the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. His Excellency Meles Zenawi Chairperson, APR Forum