Serbian and Algerian companies will form consortiums in the future, which will give them an advantage when competing for infrastructure projects in Algeria, Deputy Prime Minister Dinkic and Algeria's Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia have agreed.

The meeting, which was also attended by Defence Minister Sutanovac, was also used to agree on the details of an export contract for the Serbian defence industry, which will be the largest in 2010.

Dinkic stressed that the Algerian market presents an opportunity for Serbian building design and construction companies, as well as for the food industry, the Ministry of Economy announced.

"Algeria is in the process of adopting a five-year plan, and it will invest as much as USD 300 billion in infrastructure development," said Dinkic, adding that Serbian companies, which have so far been involved in lesser projects, could get far bigger jobs, worth hundreds of millions of euros, if they form consortiums with Algerian companies.

Dinkic had a meeting with Algeria's health minister as well and they agreed for Serbian pharmaceutical companies to be granted special status within that country, facilitating their operation, and that an invitation be sent to Serbian doctors to come to Algeria and pass their knowledge to their colleagues there, for which Algeria would provide significant funds.

Dinkic met with five other Algerian ministers during his three-day visit to Algeria, where he heads a Serbian government and bussiness delegation.