Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabe Abroad of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, Ouagadougou, June 4, 2024

Mr Minister,

Dear friend,

My delegation and I are grateful for a warm welcome. We feel at home among friends.

Our relations are growing, largely due to the agreements reached during a meeting of our presidents, Vladimir Putin and Captain Ibrahim Traoré, at the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit last year.

We are grateful for your efficient assistance in finding solutions that helped us reopen our embassy in Ouagadougou. We are implementing a programme aimed at resuming the operation of Russian diplomatic offices in Africa. Burkina Faso was the first country where we accomplished this quickly and effectively.

Our relations have a positive history. They are based on mutual sympathy, trust and mutual respect. We maintain active contacts at all levels. Apart from our presidents’ meetings in St Petersburg last year, the head of Burkina Faso’s interim government, the chairman of its transitional legislative assembly, and other officials and delegations have made working visits to Russia. 

The State Duma of the Russian Federation has a group dedicated to interacting with Burkina Faso and other African countries. Members of the State Duma Dmitry Savelyev and Alexey Chepa, who are present here, are actively working to implement the projects of the People’s Diplomacy Centre. That NGO played a crucial role in establishing the Russian House here, which offers Russian language courses. It will continue to promote our rapprochement and the education of new government members and ministry personnel who are “Russian,” as you said.

I am confident that our talks today and tomorrow will help us elaborate on the tasks set by our presidents in June 2023 in St Petersburg and will also give fresh impetus to the friendly ties between Russia and Burkina Faso.