German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a working visit to Ouagadougou on May 1 and 2, the Nurkina Faso Presidency announced on Tuesday.
According to a statement, “during this visit, she (Angela Merkel) will have a bilateral meeting with the President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, before participating in an extraordinary summit of the G5 Sahel.”
This is the very first visit by a German Chancellor to Burkina Faso, the statement said, specifying that Ms. Merkel’s stay is part of strengthening cooperation between Ouagadougou and Berlin.
“This cooperation dates back to the beginning of independence (1961) and now focuses on agriculture and natural resource management, urban and rural water supply, decentralization and local development, and finally gender as priority areas of intervention,” the release noted.
During the extraordinary summit of the G5 Sahel, the German Chancellor will have a working session with the five heads of state of the organization on the issue of the fight against terrorism, and the operationalisation of the joint force, it added.
“Exchanges will also focus on the development issue in the G5 countries, which have the ambition to make the Sahel an integrated area of development and security,” the release said.
President Kaboré has held the presidency of the G5 Sahel since February 5.
He has already been received in Berlin twice by the German Chancellor, in March 2017 and February 2019 respectively.
ALK/te/lb/as/APA