Russia-Guinea Joint Commission to Discuss Energy Issues, African Country's Foreign Minister Says

"A large joint Russian-Guinean commission will meet in 2025. And now we are reviewing all our agreements. Both sides want this to happen as soon as possible. I can't give you a date because I haven't discussed it with Mr. Lavrov. But he and I have expressed the desire to hold the meeting as soon as possible," Kouyate said.

"But that is not the main thing. The main thing is that we meet, talk and strengthen our good relations. With no taboos. We will discuss social and economic issues and all the economic projects that are on the agenda of this great plan Simandou 2040 [Senegal's national development program until 2040]. We also want Russia to present its vision," the Guinean minister said.

"There is the reality that we need electricity, and there is the reality that we do not cooperate much with Russia in this direction. And so at the big mixed commission that we will have, this will be on the agenda, we will discuss it. No taboo. Nothing prevents us from discussing with our Russian friends the development of Guinea and Russia. I always want to emphasize this because Guinea is not a poor country," Kouyate pointed out.

"First, I presented him with a new project, the program of the President of the Republic of Guinea, his excellency army general Mamadi Doumbouya, his vision, which he has embodied in the Simandou 2040 program. We need everyone, including the Russians, especially since the Russians have always cooperated with us. I presented the project to him and he welcomed it. But we did not talk about Ukraine," the top diplomat said.

"It has the largest iron deposit in the world; the second-largest bauxite deposit in the world. The president has developed a concept to use these resources for the benefit of the Guinean people," the country's foreign minister stressed.

"So we don't need them this time. As you must know, Guinea is one of the first African countries that established brotherly cooperation with the Soviet Union back then. So we need to strengthen this cooperation," Kouyate concluded.

"RUSAL has been working in Guinea for almost two decades. Everything is going very well. As in any business, sometimes there are problems. Everything depends on the situation. There are ups and downs; there can be small misunderstandings. This is natural. But RUSAL has no serious problems in Guinea," he explained.