Orascom Telecom's executive chairman said the firm's Djezzy unit head met with the Algerian finance minister on Monday, but declined to comment further on a wider asset sale Algeria has jeopardised. "We are very keen not to comment on the Algerian file, because we are very keen to leave relations with Algeria in a good position regardless of what is going on there," Orascom's Naguib Sawiris said. Sawiris was speaking after inking a final agreement with France Telecom to resolve their ownership dispute over Egypt's Mobinil, a pact which has allowed Orascom to turn its strategic focus to Algeria. Cairo-based Orascom has been in negotiations to sell some or all of its assets to MTN, a deal which could make the South African company the world's third largest mobile phone operator if all Orascom's assets were included. But Algeria says it wants to buy the Djezzy unit -- which last year accounted for about a third of Orascom Telecom's revenues but is the focus of a tax dispute -- and could scuttle the whole deal. Algeria's telecommunications minister earlier on Monday said he did not know if Orascom had paused its talks with MTN but was seeking clarity. Sawiris declined to say whether talks with MTN were ongoing. "I can only confirm that our CEO of Djezzy has met today (Monday) with the minister of finance of Algeria," he said. The deal signed on Monday between France Telecom and Orascom ended a protracted legal wrangle over shared asset Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile operator by subscribers. France Telecom's newly installed Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard was also in Cairo to sign the pact, which grants the French firm more say over the selection of Mobinil's top executives and allows it to fully consolidate Mobinil's earnings. Orascom will receive $300 million under the deal. Richard, who has said he aims to double France Telecom's emerging market revenue in the next five years, said his firm was not discussing a purchase of other Orascom assets but that Algeria was attractive. "It's a beautiful asset, indisputably. I think the political situation in Algeria makes it very difficult to see what we could do, but clearly from an industry point of view it's a very interesting country," he told reporters. He said Africa more generally was the prime target of France Telecom's emerging market strategy. "In 2020, one human being out of seven will be African. And the telecom industry is a matter of demography. So we need to be in Africa, and we have decided to be in Africa, and we will reinforce in Africa."
