Mali appreciates the prompt delivery of military equipment purchased from Russia as it helps to protect the country, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdoulaye Diop told Sputnik on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
"We do appreciate the swiftness of the provision of all the military equipment that Mali is purchasing and all the support that we are receiving from Russia to be able to capacitate [our armed forces] because our main objective is to make sure that Malians have the capacity to protect and defend their country," Diop said.
Mali is "very much interested" in defense industry cooperation with Russia, the minister added.
Abdoulaye Diop also talked about plans to build a nuclear power plant in the country with the help of the Russian state corporation Rosatom.
"We have a delegation in Russia who just left, which includes the Minister of Economy and Finance, but also the minister in charge of energy, participating in the Rosatom forum. Besides that, they also discussed and looked at the details of the plans between Mali and Russia for building a nuclear power plant," the minister said.
Diop emphasized Russia's key role as a strategic and dependable partner, not only in security but also in addressing critical issues like power outages and multilateral affairs.
Rosatom noted in its July announcement that the two nations have also discussed lithium mining and solar energy projects.