Algeria terminates visa exemption agreement for French diplomatic passport holders.

On August 7th, local time, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Nationals issued a statement, stating that they had summoned the Acting Charg d'Affaires of the French Embassy in Algeria and presented two regular notes to him. The statement announced that in the first note, Algeria formally notified France of its decision to terminate the agreement signed in 2013 between the two countries on mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and consular passports, and "immediately requiring French citizens holding diplomatic and consular passports to obtain visas", with Algeria reserving the right to apply the same conditions as those imposed on Algerian citizens by the French government when issuing such visas. The statement emphasized that this decision reflects the "principle of reciprocity" and expresses Algeria's stance of "rejecting any attempts of provocation, pressure, and extortion". The statement also mentioned that in the second note, Algeria informed France that in order to demonstrate the "principle of balance and reciprocity", it had decided to terminate the privilege enjoyed by the French Embassy in Algeria of free use of Algerian state-owned real estate, as the Algerian diplomatic mission in France does not receive similar benefits. Algeria invited France to send a delegation to Algeria to negotiate on this issue.