Three weeks after Germany's former president Horst Kohler resigned, Algeria sent its Foreign Minister to New York to meet with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This trip aims at reiterating Algeria's support to the Polisario. The Algerian Foreign Affairs Minister Sabri Boukadoum was received, Monday, in New York by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Officially, «the two leaders discussed regional and international issues as well as Algeria's cooperation with the United Nations», a diplomatic source told the Algerian Press Agency (APS). While in New York, the Algerian Minister held talks with «the President of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces», the same source added. Meanwhile, a source told Yabiladi that the Western Sahara issue was reportedly at the heart of the meeting that brought Boukadoum and Guterres together. «The territorial conflict was the main reason why the Algerian Minister flew to New York», the same source reported. «Algeria is trying to influence negotiations initiated in the recent days to appoint a new personal envoy for Western Sahara», the same source suggested. Two weeks after Jared Kushner's visit to Morocco Boukadoum's visit to New York is a «strong message from the Algerian authorities to certain parties, including Morocco, especially as the protest movement launched in February failed to change the country's position on the conflict». Earlier in June, the Algerian press agency commented on the Morocco-EU fisheries agreement, adopted by the Council of Ministers that was chaired by King Mohammed VI. APS said that by adopting the agreement, the Kingdom «acknowledged that Rabat does not have sovereignty over Western Sahara». While in the United States, Sabri Boukadoum will be holding talks with officials from the Trump administration and members of American think tanks, scheduled by law firms. The Algerian Foreign Minister's trip to the United States comes two weeks after King Mohammed VI received Donald Trump's senior advisor Jared Kushner on May 28. On Saturday, June 8, Nasser Bourita revealed that the meeting between the monarch and Kushner «was an opportunity to address issues in North Africa».
