Visiting Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil said Tuesday here that Egypt and Algeria have agreed to intensify their commercial exchanges and investment volume for a beneficial partnership.

The two governments made a common objective to double the volume of their commercial exchanges, which reached 1.3 billion U. S. dollars during the first half of 2012, Qandil said at a press conference after meeting with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmalek Selal.

"We commissioned ministries of the two parties to set up mechanisms able to achieve this objective on the ground according to both countries' needs and capacities," the official APS news agency quoted Qandil as saying.

In this regard, the two leaders discussed the possibility of Egyptian companies contributing to public projects planned in Algeria's five-year program, such as the construction of two million houses.

It was agreed to award a portion of housing projects scheduled in the Algerian government's plan to Egyptian companies of good reputation and able to achieve these projects within the time allowed and provide a quality work in conformity with agreed standards and conditions, Qandil said.

As for the cooperation in the energy field, Qandil expressed the interest of his country in importing Algeria's gas.

"We have examined many alternatives including the import of Algerian natural gas to support various development sectors in Egypt, which has a large reserve of gas recently discovered but is unable to exploit in short-term," he noted.

In addition, Qandil denied that Egypt have requested a two billion dollars loan from Algeria, as some media reported recently.

"Egyptian government did not make this request but I can ensure that cooperation between Egypt and Algeria will be undoubtedly beneficial for the two parties in its economic side," he underlined.

The two leaders also agreed to hold the Algeria-Egypt Joint Commission in April or May 2013 in Cairo, which is to permit the implementation of what have been agreed during this visit.

Qandil arrived Monday in Algiers, starting a three-day visit which aims to revive the spirit of cooperation and rapprochement between Algeria and Egypt.