New partners and new markets for Turkmenistan in Africa: Burkina Faso
The neutral status of Turkmenistan is the direct equivalent of the “open door” policy. And, in this context, Turkmenistan is open for establishing mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries of the African continent, including Burkina Faso. Diplomatic relations between Turkmenistan and Burkina Faso were established on the basis of a bilateral agreement in the spring of 2016. What are the points of economic approach between two countries despite such geographic distance? Turkmenistan and Burkina Faso have great prospects for cooperation in the agricultural sector. The main agricultural crop in Burkina Faso is cotton. In 2016-2017, Burkina Faso harvested 700 thousand tons of cotton. One of the main areas of the industry is the cotton processing and production of textiles. Cotton is one of the largest export items of this West African country. Shepherding and animal husbandry may become another potential area for experience exchange between Turkmenistan and Burkina Faso. This branch of livestock is strong in the agricultural sector of both countries. The water management sector is a promising area for promotion of interaction between Turkmenistan and Burkina Faso. The experience of Turkmenistan in the development of agriculture with the practice of rational water management will be very useful for the Burkina Faso, suffering from limited resources. The experience of Turkmenistan in realizing the water diplomacy, designed to become one of the political forms of multilateral dialogue, is able to provide a certain point of contact. Taking into account the fact that oil products have major share in the structure of Burkina Faso's imports, Turkmen petrochemicals may get a new market, in the immediate term through swap deals. And, in the long term, Turkmen oil products, because of their reasonable prices and good quality, can be exported to Burkina Faso using connectivity opportunities of One Belt, One Road. Burkina Faso, under the frame of World Bank Electricity Sector Support Project, is focused on the widespread introduction of energy-generating capacities based on solar energy. Turkmenistan, in the future, may establish joint venture for production of solar panels with participation of foreign countries including China, especially given that the country is rich in quartz sand, which is the raw material for the production of solar batteries. And, Burkina Faso is a potential importer of solar technologies under the label “Made in Turkmenistan”. The overall trend of rapid technical development, generally observed in African countries, stakes on the re-equipment of such sectors as agriculture, energy and industry, creating the precondition for the transformation of this continent within next 10-15 years into a hugely important source of import and export of goods and services. Turkmenistan, as always, stands ready for partnership on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
