Türkiye and Burkina Faso enjoy good bilateral relations. Activities aiming
at enhancing bilateral relations have gained momentum after the opening of
the Turkish Embassy in Ouagadougou and the Embassy of Burkina Faso in
Ankara in 2012 and in 2014 respectively. Many bilateral agreements signed
in the recent period provided a new momentum to our relations. Türkiye
pledged 5 million USD for the G5 Sahel Joint Force, to which Burkina Faso
is also a member.
Below is the list of bilateral high-level visits:
- On 12-21 August 2008, the then BF President Blaise Compaoré attended the
Türkiye-Africa Cooperation Summit in Ankara, where he met with the then
Turkish President H.E. Abdullah Gül.
- On 8-10 May 2013, Djibril Bassole, the then BF Minister of State, Foreign
Affairs and Regional Cooperation, visited Türkiye. As part of the visit, the
agreement providing bilateral exemption of visa for diplomatic passport
holders was signed. Bassolé also visited Türkiye on 28 August 2014 to attend
the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony of H.E. President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan.
- On 19-22 March 2014, the former Speaker of the Burkina Faso National
Assembly, Soungalo Appolinaire Ouattara paid a visit to Türkiye.
- On 24-26 February 2015, Colonel Isaac Zida, who was the Prime Minister of
the Provisional Government formed following the resignation of the
then-President Compaoré on 31 October 2014, visited Türkiye and met with
H.E. Meral Akşener, the then-Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Parliament.
- H.E. Mr. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso
participated with high-level delegations in the Summit of the Organization
of the Islamic Cooperation held between 10-15 April 2016 in Istanbul.
- H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Türkiye visited Burkina Faso in July 2017.
- On 10-11 October 2018, H.E. Harouna Kaboré, BF Minister of Commerce,
Industry and Handicrafts visited Türkiye on the occasion of the 2nd
Türkiye-Africa Business Forum, accompanied by Armond Roland, Mayor of
Ouagadougou, and by Mahamadi Savadogo, President of BF Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
- On 30 November – 1 December 2018, H.E. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Turkish
Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services and Dr. Esra Albayrak, Chair
of OIC Women Advisory Council, visited Ouagadougou on the occasion of the
7th OIC Ministerial Conference on the Role of Women in Development of OIC
States.
- On 3-7 February 2019, Alassane Bala Sakande, Speaker of the BF National
Assembly, visited Türkiye and met with H.E. Binali Yıldırım, the then
Speaker of the Turkish Parliament.
- H.E. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso, paid the
first state visit to Türkiye on 9-11 April 2019.
-The Second Session of the Joint Economic Commission between Türkiye and BF
was held in Ouagadougou on 2-3 October 2019.
Bilateral trade volume is 52,2 mllion US dollars in 2019 (Export: 31,4
million US Dollars, Import 20,8 million US Dollars).
Türkiye initiated numerous projects in the fields of humanitarian help and
donation projects for Burkina Faso with the contributions of TİKA (Turkish
Agency for Coordination in Development), Turkish Red Crescent, Foundation
and other Turkish non-governmental organizations.
The launch of Turkish Airlines direct flights to Ouagadougou with a
frequency of 4 times a week in 2012 has been an important turning point in
respect of commercial and economic relations.
Türkiye has provided Türkiye Scholarships to students from Burkina Faso.