On the sidelines of the 79th UN Assembly, the Burkinabe Minister in charge of regional cooperation, Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré, met on September 23 and 24, 2024 with his counterparts from 8 countries with the aim of strengthening their bilateral cooperation.
To strengthen bilateral relations between his country and Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Belgium, Tunisia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Latvia and the United Arab Emirates, the Burkinabe minister responsible for cooperation had audiences with his counterparts from the 8 countries.
According to the minister, with Tunisia it was a question of taking stock of the development of the files since the last joint cooperation commission which resulted in the signing of 8 agreements while with Egypt we reviewed the cooperation and examined the points to be strengthened, notably in the field of professional training and other sectors of strategic interest.
With Venezuela and Nicaragua, the issue was the physical presence of diplomatic representations on both sides, as well as mutu
al support in multilateral spaces.
“We have had discussions with the United Arab Emirates and we note that this country is increasingly interested in Burkina Faso, and I hope that we can strengthen our collaboration through a meeting as soon as possible between experts from the two countries to discuss issues of common interest,” said Mr. Traoré.
Long before that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke on September 23 with his counterpart from Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia and a new potential partner which, for some time now, has been showing its intention to strengthen its cooperation with Burkina Faso.
During the discussions, Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré and Kulubaev Zheenbek Moldokanovich agreed to work on organizing bilateral consultations, first at the level of foreign ministers and then at the summit, to see to what extent Burkina Faso and Kyrgyzstan, which share similarities such as continentality, can establish a win-win partnership.
The head of the Burkinabe delegation met with the United Na
tions Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, to whom he pleaded for the involvement and listening of the Sahelians during strategic meetings that concern them.
“We explained the real security situation, our reading of it, and what needs to be corrected in the narrative that is regularly spread and that often frightens, or pushes to decisions that are not objective,” said the Burkinabe diplomat.
According to Minister TRAORE, the discussions were fruitful, and the delegation presented the results obtained in the fight against terrorism, thanks to the commitment of the combat forces and the support of the Burkinabe people.
Source: Burkina Information Agency