The Algerian government is negotiating 16 investment projects totalling $12 billion for 2007, El Moudjahid reported Tuesday (May 22nd). The announcement was made by National Investments Development Agency (ANDI) General Manager Abdelmadjid Baghdadli. Without providing specifics on the projects, Baghdadi said that the national and foreign investments will cover numerous sectors, such as real-estate, tourism, desalination and the aluminium industry. He reiterated that ANDI studied 6,975 investment projects in 2006 worth an estimated at $10 billion, but projects worth only $1.6 billion were implemented. Algerian press cites United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reports as saying that foreign direct investments in Algeria increased by some $440 million in 2006 compared to 2005.