Joint Russia-Africa bank proposed

Burkina Faso wants to use a financial institution to facilitate payments and boost trade with Moscow, an official has confirmed

Burkina Faso has suggested creating a joint bank with Russia to facilitate financial transactions between the two countries and promote trade, the speaker of the Transitional Legislative Assembly, Ousmane Bougouma, said on Wednesday.

“I think that when it comes to strengthening cooperation with Russia in key areas of the economy, it is very important that we explore the possibility of creating a joint bank between Russia and Africa with a branch in Burkina Faso,” he said.

The establishment of a joint financial institution will pave the way for broader cooperation between Russia and the West African country, the official said, adding that it would be “useful” for mutual trade and investment.

In January, the prime minister of Burkina Faso, Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela, proposed setting up a joint committee to boost trade and economic relations with Moscow.

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Earlier this week, the first State Duma deputy chairman, Aleksandr Zhukov, said that Africa was “a rapidly developing region with great prospects,” adding that Russia is currently “actively working” to expand cooperation with countries in the continent.

“Our mutual economic interests include investments, cooperation within production chains, cooperation in strategic infrastructure projects, energy, medicine, financial technologies, and that, of course, along with the traditional supply of grain and fertilizers,” he said at the International Parliamentary Conference ‘Russia – Africa in a Multipolar World’.

Russia is “determined to continue building a strategic partnership” with African nations, while multiple Russian state-owned and private companies are already actively investing on the continent.

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