ALGERIA - March 2 - Chirac Visits.

Visiting Algiers, French Pres. Jacques Chirac meets Pres. Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Rapturous crowds cheer Chirac as he rides in a convertible black limousine with Bouteflika. (The 3-day visit is the first state visit by a French president since Algeria won independence in 1962. Both Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Francois Mitterrand visited Algeria when they were French president, but neither of them came on an official state visit, which comes with special pomp and importance. The purpose of Chirac's visit is to re-define a tortured relationship that has grown even more complicated in the past decade when at least 120,000 people have been killed in the civil war. The most burning bilateral issue for Algerians, particularly the 70% of the population that is under the age of 30, is how to get easier access to France. With an unemployment rate that is officially set at 30%, but universally seen as much higher, many Algerian youth see their only way out of hopelessness as an exit visa. France is their first choice. Paris gives about 180,000 visas to Algerians every year, but there are long delays, largely because of the 10-year-old civil war and terrorist acts against France that led to the closure of France's consulates in the country). Chirac was greeted by honor guards and military salutes; sword-carrying, turban-wearing guards on horseback; drum-beating troupes, tribal dancers, off-key trumpeters and a girls choral group. Security forces estimated the crowd at 1-1.5m people - although it did not seem nearly that big. Chirac said: "I am aware that I open with you a new chapter of our common history, a chapter of trust, of esteem, of mutual respect and solidarity". Coincidentally, Bouteflika celebrated his 65th birthday on March 2. And Chirac presented him with an original edition of the 3-volume war memoirs of Gen. Charles de Gaulle. In turn, Chirac received the keys to the city of Algiers. The two leaders signed "The Algiers Declaration", a text meant to give "a decisive impetus" to political, economic, social and cultural relations "without forgetting the past". Modelled on the 1963 Franco-German treaty, the accord was expected to lead to a similar treaty and become a reference "in terms of regional co-operation and international relations". Paris also pledged aid for Algeria's fledgling economic reforms and three deals were signed worth 95m in the areas of housing, water supply and banking. France is Algiers' top trading partner but competes hard with US and British oil majors in the OPEC-member country's lucrative hydrocarbon market. Chirac's trip follows US moves since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to bolster its economic and political influence in a region long-considered France's private backyard. Paris' strong stance against war in Iraq - a position that has boosted Chirac's popularity in the Maghreb and deeply irked Washington - also figured in the talks between Chirac and Bouteflika.