Amid heightened diplomatic activity ahead of a key United Nations Security Council juncture, Algeria is stepping up its engagement with the United States in a bid to influence its position on the Western Sahara issue, leveraging its natural resources to strengthen its negotiating hand. DR ‹ › On Friday, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf met with Massad Boulos, senior advisor to the President of the United States on Africa, Arab affairs, and the Middle East, on the sidelines of meetings in Antalya, Turkey. In a brief statement, Algeria's Foreign Ministry remained general, noting that the talks focused on «the positive momentum in Algerian-American relations», highlighting both the «distinguished level of strategic dialogue» and the «promising prospects» offered by ongoing economic cooperation between the two countries. The statement added that both officials exchanged views on key regional issues, particularly developments in Libya and Sudan, as well as the latest on Western Sahara. By contrast, the U.S. official offered more detail, writing on X: «I had a productive meeting with Algerian Foreign Minister Attaf to deepen our commercial and security partnership. We welcomed progress in discussions on Algeria's unconventional gas resources and explored opportunities for U.S. companies to support the country's critical minerals sector». He added that the two sides also discussed expanding cooperation in counterterrorism and military coordination, with a shared focus on regional security, alongside ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises. The Natural Resources Card The meeting comes just days before the UN Security Council is set to review the mandate of the MINURSO mission under Resolution 2797, adopted on October 31. Against this backdrop, Algeria appears to be stepping up diplomatic efforts to influence Washington's position, leveraging its natural resources as part of its outreach. Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, Algiers has signaled increased openness toward the United States. This shift became apparent shortly after Trump's inauguration, when President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told a French newspaper he was open to normalizing relations with Israel and refrained from criticizing Trump's proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. More recently, the Algerian government submitted a draft law to parliament limiting public companies' stakes in unexplored sectors to 20%, while allowing up to 80% foreign ownership, an approach expected to benefit U.S. investors in particular. It is worth recalling that during his first term, Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara. In his second term, he is pushing to advance a resolution to the conflict by supporting negotiations involving Morocco, Algeria, the Polisario Front, and Mauritania, within the framework of Morocco's autonomy plan.
