Mali, which is in dire need of wheat and fertilizers due to infertile land, is very grateful to Russia for the timely shipment of these strategic products to the country, Aliu Tunkara, a member of the Malian parliament, told Sputnik.
"We have a very acute issue with the supply of fertilizers to the country. For us, this is a strategic commodity, since the land is infertile. Thanks to Russia, which helps Mali often on a gratuitous basis with grain and fertilizers, we have already received a shipment of wheat. We are expecting a shipment of fertilizers soon," the Malian lawmaker said.
Tunkara's comment was made after the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired on July 18, as Russia did not extend its participation. Moscow has been repeatedly critical of the fact that the deal's provisions pertaining to Russia had not been fulfilled and that most of the supplies were ending up not in African countries in need, but in rich European countries.
Tunkara also mentioned the sphere of financial cooperation between Russia and Africa, urging Moscow to expand its financial and banking presence in Africa to keep working with the region's nations and increase trade with the continent in view of the unprecedented restrictions imposed on the Russian financial sector.
"Russia is a world power that has all the instruments to resolve issues with sanctions, create the necessary legislative and financial base, create all the conditions for friendly countries, including those in Africа, to trade with Russia. It is necessary [for Moscow] to build up presence in Africa, including in the banking sector," the lawmaker said.
Currently, the African countries are experiencing difficulties in trade with Russia, since the majority of their financial transactions go through Western financial institutions, the Malian lawmaker noted.
"This issue can and should be solved. Russia is very much welcomed to expand its financial presence on the continent. We need to move towards financial partnership. Mali is ready for such cooperation," he said.
Tunkara also stressed that Bamako was keen to continue deepening bilateral ties with Moscow regardless of the current political and economic situation.
Apart from that, the official commented on the newly adopted constitution of Mali, in particular the clause that refers to the lowering of the status of French from an official language to a working language.
According to Tunkara, Mali will gradually remove French from all spheres of life in the country.
Following a referendum in June, the Malian government adopted last week a new constitution that, among other things, demoted French, which had been the country's official language since 1960, to a working language. Meanwhile, 13 national languages spoken in the country received official language status.
"We adopted our own constitution a few days ago. We want to break away from the French system, we want to restore the status of our languages. Yes, French is a working language from now on, but it is only for now. We have serious plans to promote our own languages, we would like to completely remove the French language from all areas and gradually we will do it," Tunkara said.
At the same time, the lawmaker added that his nation was facing severe pressure not only from France, which suspended its assistance to country's development organizations over constitutional changes, but also from other Western states due to unsubstantiated allegations of military cooperation between Mali and Russia.
Mali, along with many other African countries, gained its independence from the French colonial rule and became a sovereign member of the United Nations in 1960, known as the Year of Africa. Since then, the Malian military authorities have made active efforts to root out colonial influence, including the cultural one, from France.