Algeria and Mauritania have signed a new customs cooperation agreement, concluded at the close of the seventh session of the two countries' Joint Customs Commission, held in Nouakchott in late September 2026.
The agreement was signed by Major-General Abdelhafid Bakhouche, director general of Algerian customs, and his Mauritanian counterpart, Inspector General Khaled Ould Salek, director general of Mauritanian customs. Algeria's customs directorate said in a communiqué, reported by L'Algérie Aujourd'hui, that the accord was signed in Nouakchott in the presence of officials from both administrations.
The two-day commission session reportedly examined several aspects of bilateral customs cooperation, including strengthening trade exchanges, coordinating the securing of shared borders, and facilitating the movement of goods. Mauritanian state news agency AMI and the outlet MADAR, reporting separately on the talks, said discussions also covered joint efforts against smuggling and cross-border organized crime, along with training and expertise exchanges between the two customs administrations.
Algerian officials described the agreement as a step toward consolidating bilateral cooperation and facilitating trade "au service des intérêts communs" of the two countries. Mauritania's customs chief, addressing the opening of the session, framed the deepened cooperation as reflecting the two countries' broader political relationship, while Algeria's Bakhouche linked the customs push to Algeria's wider economic-integration ambitions, including under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework.
The new agreement follows months of parallel efforts to deepen Algeria-Mauritania economic ties, including ongoing work toward a separate preferential trade accord intended to reduce tariff barriers between the two countries. It also builds on a broader economic corridor between the two countries that already includes border crossing points and transport links.
Full operational provisions of the new customs accord — such as specific data-sharing mechanisms, joint control posts, tariff-related measures or an implementation timeline — have not been detailed in public reporting so far. What to watch is whether either government publishes an official text or follow-up statistics on trade facilitation or anti-smuggling enforcement in the coming weeks.