Mr. Chaib chairs meeting with consular post heads to enhance services for citizens abroad

As part of the periodic follow-up on the outcomes of the Conference of Heads of Consular Posts aimed at enhancing consular operations to better serve the national community abroad, the State Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charge of the National Community Abroad, Mr. Sofiane Chaib, today chaired a video conference with heads of consular posts. The meeting focused on reviewing ongoing efforts to upgrade consular services provided to our citizens abroad and progress in implementing the digitalization plan and developing the necessary digital infrastructure.

In his address, the State Secretary reiterated his directives on the imperative of according utmost priority to the care of Algerian citizens living abroad and continuously upgrading the consular system. He emphasized the importance attached by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to modernizing and digitalizing consular transactions to streamline procedures and efficiently meet the needs of the national community.

The meeting provided an opportunity to assess the efforts deployed by the Ministry and our consular network to facilitate consular transactions and shorten processing times. It also addressed accelerating the rollout of the remote biometric passport issuance procedure for members of the national community, which was initially launched as a pilot project at the Consulate of Algeria in Paris at the end of last June.

In this context, the State Secretary issued necessary instructions to ensure the successful implementation of the second phase of this operation across selected consular posts in the coming weeks, ahead of its gradual extension across the entire diplomatic and consular network.

Furthermore, the State Secretary stressed the necessity of sustained engagement with the national community abroad, delivering the highest quality of consular services, and continuously improving reception conditions. He underscored the need to maintain regular meetings with citizens living abroad to address their concerns and inform them of state initiatives designed to serve them, in line with the high directives of the country's senior leadership.