During her visit to Burkina Faso last 4 and 5 May, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Emanuela Del Re, was received by President Roch Kaboré to discuss Italy-Burkina Faso bilateral relations and Italy’s commitment to the Country. “Security, development cooperation, the environment, and economic cooperation are our main areas of interest,” said the Deputy Foreign Minister at the end of the meeting. These same issues were again discussed in the several meetings that she had with members of the Burkina Faso Government: the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, of Agriculture, of Health, of Trade and Crafts, of Women and of Security.
The Deputy Minister went on to meet with the local representatives of the Burkinabé people. “The human relationship between Italy and Burkina Faso derives above all from the presence of Italian NGOs here and from the laborious presence in our Country of the largest Burkinabé Diaspora of Europe,” she said.
The Deputy Minister then met with the Italian NGOs operating in the Country, including members of the Comunità di Sant’Egidio general civil registry centre and the Shalom educational centre which hosts a university that trains youths from Burkina Faso and sub-Saharan Africa for the agri-food sector, the study of law and of social communications.
Deputy Minister Del Re then visited the San Camillo Hospital in Ouagadougou, which is managed by Camillian priests, to give them a financing of €300,000 to replenish their stock of vaccines against meningitis through the World Health Organization.
The visit was scheduled four days after President Kaboré received the credentials of the first Italian Ambassador in Ouagadougou. “The recent opening of our Embassy marks a new important phase in our bilateral relations and opens important perspectives for strengthening our partnership,” said the Deputy Minister.
