Russian Delegation to Come to Mali 'Next Week' to Discuss Realization of Projects, Mali's FM Says

A Russian delegation is expected in Mali "next week" to discuss the implementation of joint projects, Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, told Sputnik.

"There are some Russian partners who will come to Mali. And they are not the first. Since the beginning of these exchanges, Russian delegations have regularly visited Mali," he said.

Diop underlined that Mali wants to establish strong cooperation with Russia in the economy, trade, military, and security sectors.

"It is true that, today, our ambition is to raise economic and commercial cooperation to the level of the good quality of political relations, but also to the level of military and security cooperation," he noted.

Speaking about Russian-Malian partnership in the infrastructure, railways and the creation of airlines, the top diplomat stressed that "there have been many exchanges between the two parties, many documents have been discussed in order to proceed with the implementation of these projects, which are currently in advanced stages."

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Takeaways From Russian and Malian Foreign Ministers Meeting

28 February, 17:33

As for the cooperation in the energy sector, the foreign minister emphasized the importance of this area today and revealed that it is planned to develop nuclear power plants in the medium and long-term period in the country and to create two solar power plants in the short-term period.

"In fact, in the medium and long term, it has been decided to move towards the construction of nuclear power plants in order to strengthen the country's energy balance. But in the short term, at least in the short and medium terms, to meet the needs, we are talking about creating two solar power plants that will be able to meet the needs of the country. And our teams are currently working on various technical documents and financial justifications related to these projects," he said.

Regarding the collaboration with Russia in the mining sector, Diop underscored that Mali has a lot of potential in this field and the country wants to "have a strengthened partnership with Russia to also benefit from its experience, its expertise, and move towards a win-win partnership."

"[...] Mali is a mining country par excellence with a lot of potential, a lot of minerals that exist, starting with gold where we are the third African producer. There are other ores that have not yet been mined. So, on this whole issue, we would like to have a strengthened partnership with Russia to also benefit from its experience, its expertise and move towards a win-win partnership. Our ambition is to be able to move towards a transformation of our raw materials to create more added value for Malians," the minister highlighted.

He also noted that "there are Russian companies that are already operating" in Mali.