British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Algeria on Wednesday in the wake of this month’s hostage crisis at a gas plant deep in the Sahara in which several Britons were killed.

The first visit by a British premier since Algeria won independence from France in 1962 comes less than two weeks after 37 foreign hostages were killed when gunmen stormed the In Amenas facility and in the attack’s aftermath. An Algiers airport official said Cameron was greeted by his counterpart, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. He was also due to meet President Abdelaziz Bouteflika later on the visit ending on Thursday.

The British premier’s spokeswoman said before his departure that Cameron would seek a partnership with Algeria on tackling extremism, reflecting growing concern in London about unrest in North Africa, and in Mali. Cameron is accompanied by his national security adviser and a trade envoy, Downing Street said, while British reports said the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 was also on the trip. At his meetings with Sellal and Bouteflika, they would “talk about how they can strengthen bilateral relations,” Cameron’s spokeswoman said.