Andreas Aebi and his parliamentary delegation were received by the president of the National Assembly, Alassane Bala Sakandé, and met with members of parliamentary committees to discuss the cooperation programme in the field of governance. Under this programme, which is co-financed by Switzerland, the Burkinabe parliament is called upon to strengthen its dialogue with civil society and increase its oversight of state activities. The delegation also paid a courtesy call on the president of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
The meetings focused on bilateral relations and cooperation, the political situation in the wake of the parliamentary and presidential elections in November 2020, and security in Burkina Faso. There are currently over one million internally displaced people in Burkina Faso as a result of violence. Peacebuilding in the Sahel region is also one of the priorities set out in the Federal Council's 2021‒24 strategy for sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Aebi expressed his concern about the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel and the spread of violent extremism in recent years. The delegation visited the eastern city of Fada N'Gourma, severely affected by the violence, where Mr Aebi laid a wreath in memory of the victims of terrorism. He also discussed the conflict situation with members of the Collège de Dialogue et de Médiation, an initiative to promote social cohesion.
The main focus of the Burkina Faso trip was on inspecting projects in the field. In the central and central-western regions, the delegation visited a number of Swiss projects in agriculture and entrepreneurship. This included a poultry farm and a honey production plant working as part of an association of 4,000 beekeepers to raise professional standards in the business. The delegation also visited a rural track under construction and a mechanics training facility where 8,000 young people ‒ half of them women ‒ will receive training in various trades through the Swiss support programme for vocational education and training.
Burkina Faso has been a priority country for Swiss international cooperation since 1974. Through its programmes in development cooperation, humanitarian aid and human security, Switzerland is working to find alternative responses to violent extremism in the Sahel region.
Switzerland recognised Burkina Faso's independence on 5 August 1960 and established diplomatic relations with the country in 1961. Since then, the two countries have concluded agreements on trade, investment protection, technical cooperation and budgetary aid. Switzerland's development cooperation programmes are primarily focused on the northern, central-western and eastern regions of the country. Since 1994, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO has provided budgetary aid and related macroeconomic support. The country also receives various forms of humanitarian and food aid either directly from Swiss Humanitarian Aid or through UN agencies or NGOs, depending on the needs identified.
Mr Aebi was accompanied by National Council members Christine Badertscher (Greens/BE) and Eric Nussbaumer (SP/BL), both members of the National Council Foreign Affairs Committee, and by Ambassador Claudio Fischer, head of International Affairs & Multilingualism at the Parliamentary Services, Swiss Ambassador to Burkina Faso Anne Lugon-Moulin, and Ambassador Siri Walt, head of the Africa Division at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.