Moscow, Feb. 26, 2025 (Lusa) - The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, assured his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday that Moscow is a "reliable partner" for his country.
"We are reliable partners," Sissoco Embaló told Vladimir Putin, whom he thanked for inviting him to visit Russia and for increasing the training quota for African military personnel and students in the country.
Putin emphasised that Russia traditionally trains Guinea-Bissau soldiers in its military institutions and has recently increased the quota to welcome more students.
According to the Kremlin chief, "there is growing interest" among young people from Guinea-Bissau to study in Russia.
Currently, more than 300 Guinea-Bissau students attend higher education institutions in Russia.
During the meeting with the Guinea-Bissau leader, who is on a state visit to Russia today, Putin wished him luck in the upcoming presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau, because the good relations between Moscow and Bissau are "largely related" to his name.
Speaking about contacts with other countries on the continent, Putin emphasised that last year Russia increased its trade with Africa by 10%.
According to the Russian leader, there is a "good foundation" for further development of this co-operation.
Russia began to strengthen its ties with Africa after the start of the war in Ukraine and the confrontation with several Western countries, which imposed economic sanctions against Moscow.
On this first state visit by a Guinea-Bissau President to Russia, the two governments signed four bilateral co-operation agreements, according to a source from the Presidency office in Bissau.
The four agreements, in the sectors of economic cooperation, trade and investment, education and vocational training and natural resources, were initialled on Tuesday at the Russian government headquarters in Moscow.
Since becoming President of Guinea-Bissau, Sissoco Embaló has travelled to Russia on several occasions at the invitation of Vladimir Putin, with whom he had a "long telephone conversation" on 23 January about the international geopolitical situation and bilateral relations.
The Guinea-Bissau President had already been to Moscow in May 2024 as Putin's guest for the Victory Day celebrations. Embaló was also in the Russian capital in July 2023 for the Russia-Africa summit.
In October 2022, the Guinea-Bissau head of state visited Moscow and Kiev, Ukraine, in his capacity as president-in-office of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), holding talks with Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky about ending the war that the two countries have been fighting since February of the same year.
Last December, the Russian company Russal awarded 70 scholarships to young Guinea-Bissau nationals to train in Moscow in various areas related to natural resources.
Russal, which is going to exploit the bauxite mine in eastern Guinea-Bissau, has also expressed interest in helping the African country build a railway line and a port in the southern town of Buba.
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