Russia, Burkina Faso Strengthen Economic Cooperation -By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

A corporate business forum dedicated to the economic partnership between Russia and Burkina Faso, titled “Russia – Burkina Faso: Towards a Sustainable Strategic Partnership” with participation of Russian investors, business representatives, stakeholders and Burkina delegation was held in Moscow. The delegation from Burkina Faso, who attended the event, was broadly looking for developing trade, economic, energy, and humanitarian ties between the countries.

The delegation was to identify practical steps toward developing bilateral cooperation. “We will present our projects to you today and agree on further cooperation. Both sides should benefit from this collaboration,” said Jean-Paul Karamé Bakoué, head of the Mining, Quarrying, and Energy Department at the National Authority for Major Projects in the Presidential Administration of Burkina Faso.

Presentations were also delivered by Bakoué; Nagalo Roch Donatien, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Burkina Faso; Pavel Shibilov, Head of the International Development Project at the Russian Export Center (REC); and other distinguished guests.

“When people say the scope of our cooperation doesn’t match its potential, that’s not entirely true: we don’t track exports and imports that go through third countries. However, if we build our relationships directly, everyone will benefit: both Burkina Faso importers who are willing to supply us, and our exporters,” Shibilov noted. According to him, entrepreneurs from Burkina Faso are already supplying food products and textiles to the Russian market. He also noted the interest of Russian small and medium-sized businesses in the African country’s market.

During the forum, representatives of the two countries signed a number of agreements, including a cooperation agreement between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Burkina Faso and the Tula Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as a letter of intent between the Russian manufacturer of gas turbine engines and autonomous power supply systems, Kadvi, and BN-GPB.

“During our visit [to Russia], we visited Kadvi, a company that has the necessary skills and capabilities to manufacture modular power plants. What’s particularly interesting to us is that they’re capable of producing these modular power plants with a capacity of up to 50 MW in three months,” Karama said.

With food security, local Russian news reports said Okto Group may buy Nordgold’s assets in Burkina Faso, a source familiar with the company’s plans. According to another source, representatives of one of the potential contenders for Nordgold’s assets recently visited the site in Burkina Faso.

Russia has, recently, increased exports of grains to African countries, including Burkina Faso in West African region, according to the head of Agroexport Federal Center, Ilya Ilyushin. Last year, Russia shipped 1.7 million tonnes of wheat worth $383 million in this direction. Its main buyer in the region is Nigeria at 70% of total supplies. Shipments are also going to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

Analysts believe it is important to develop supplies to neighboring West African countries, which have sufficient market capacity and are interested in high-quality and competitively priced wheat. Primarily, these are Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire.

Despite its minimal investment in West African countries, Russia has re-emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation, while undertaking the strategic steps in transforming and reshaping, generally, Burkina Faso’s architecture to ensure its economic sovereignty within the framework of the emerging multipolarity. In fact, Burkina Faso remains one of the least developed countries in the world, with an economy based primarily on subsistence farming and livestock raising.

A large part of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid, despite having gold ores in abundance. By geographical location, French-speaking Burkina Faso with an estimated population of approximately 23.5 million, is a landlocked country in West Africa.