Moscow is committed to providing further humanitarian assistance to Mali, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
"We discussed Mali's humanitarian needs. We will certainly continue that support," Lavrov said at the joint press conference.
Furthermore, Mali expressed gratitude towards Russia for its balanced approach to the situation in West Africa and looks forward to bolstering bilateral ties, Diop stated.
"I would like to thank you for a warm welcome extended in Moscow to the Malian delegation, including our minister of defense. We wish to reaffirm the commitment of the Malian authorities to bolstering cooperation between our countries," the Malian diplomat said.
Mali's minister added that the West African nation appreciated Russia's position on the situation in the region, which has seen a series of coups in recent years. He said Russia had made good on its promises and commitments, including the continued supply of wheat, diesel and fertilizer.
Lastly, Mali has accepted Russia's proposal to hold a meeting on the expansion of the bilateral cooperation in April.
"We want to further boost our cooperation and that is why we accept Russia's proposal to hold a meeting in April to expand our cooperation, to deepen this cooperation," Diop said.
The Russian minister, in turn, said that they also agreed to take additional practical steps to develop trade and economic cooperation, "which is still significantly behind the level of our trusting political dialog."
"We confirmed our interest in holding a meeting of our respective economic departments to consider practical steps to implement the two visits to Moscow last year by delegations of Malian experts in such areas as the implementation of specific projects with the participation of Russian companies in geological exploration, development of mineral resources, transportation, infrastructure, energy, agriculture, information technology and much more," Lavrov said.