Burkina Faso: A working session was held between Captain Ibrahim TRAORE, the Head of State of the Transition, and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir PUTIN.

The Head of State of the Transition, Captain Ibrahim TRAORE, and his delegation held a working session with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir PUTIN, on Saturday late morning, with his close collaborators present.

During this meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed the strength of their relationship and their firm commitment to its reinforcement. On this occasion, the Transition President expressed the strong friendship between the Burkinabè and Russian peoples.

President Vladimir PUTIN thanked the Transition President for participating in the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit and emphasized that «the ties between our countries are friendly».

As part of enhancing cooperation between the two countries, President PUTIN decided to reopen the Russian embassy, which had been closed since 1992.

He stated that «the work of our ambassador will give momentum to the development of our relations».

During the discussions marking this working session, the Head of State, Captain Ibrahim TRAORE, also expressed a desire to strengthen trade exchanges between the Russian Federation and Burkina Faso.

Our country offers a wide variety of products that could be of interest to Russian partners. According to the Head of State, during bilateral meetings at the Economic Forum, products such as mangoes, cashews, and other agricultural goods have sparked interest among Russian partners.

The Head of State therefore invited Russian entrepreneurs to build processing plants for some of these products in Burkina. «This will contribute to intensifying to intensify our trade exchange», explained the President of the Transition.

The issues of electrical energy and hydrocarbons were addressed by Captain Ibrahim TRAORE, who supported Burkina Faso’s desire to facilitate the construction, if possible, of a nuclear power plant in our country to produce electricity and, to redirect «the majority of our hydrocarbon imports to Russia».

«We will attach particular importance to developing relations with Burkina Faso», said the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir PUTIN.

To this end, «we are ready to work together to develop economic and commercial cooperation between our two countries», said President Putin.

The President of the Russian Federation noted the good cooperation between the two countries within the UN and other international organizations.

He announced the granting of 10 million dollars in humanitarian aid to several African countries through the World Food Programme (WFP), of which 2.5 million dollars will go to Burkina Faso.

H.Nelchael