In a statement to the press following his meeting on Saturday in Banjul with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, Traoré said that Burkina Faso, “a landlocked country”, welcomed this Royal Initiative enabling Sahel countries to have access to the Atlantic Ocean.

Burkina Faso’s top diplomat said that his country is “interested in more ways than one” by this Royal Initiative, underlining that its “technical contours are currently being further revealed,” and which concern not only physical access, but also other types of facilities that landlocked countries need “for their economies to perform well.”

This Initiative is perfectly in tune with the integration policies being implemented at West African level, but also within the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS), comprising Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, added the Burkinabe Minister.

While hailing the Initiative, the Minister said that his country’s experts “will be ready”, noting that a consolidation meeting would soon be held to “try to define the contours” of the Initiative.

The talks between the Moroccan Minister and his Burkinabe counterpart focused on strengthening bilateral relations, as well as on subjects of common interest and the situation in the sub-region, among others.

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 15th session of the Islamic Summit Conference, was attended by Ambassador Mohamed Methqal, Director General of the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation.

During his stay in the Gambian capital, Bourita held a series of meetings with several of his counterparts and officials taking part in the Islamic Summit which opened on Saturday in the Gambian capital.