Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has arrived in Burkina Faso for a one-day working visit aimed at strengthening ties between the two West African nations.
“I arrived in Burkina Faso for a one-day working visit,” Bio announced on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Head of State of Burkina Faso, welcomed me enthusiastically. I look forward to a very successful visit.”
The visit underscores the fraternal relations between Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso, with both leaders expected to discuss various bilateral issues.
In 2022, Sierra Leone exported $23.9k worth of goods to Burkina Faso, including packaged medicaments ($12.1k), rubber pipes ($4.92k), and centrifuges ($2.91k). However, over the past five years, exports from Sierra Leone to Burkina Faso have declined significantly, decreasing at an annualized rate of 28.3% from $126k in 2017 to $23.9k in 2022.
Bio, like Traore, a former military head of state, returned Sierra Leone to a democratically elected government, when he handed power to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, following Kabbah’s victory in the 1996 Sierra Leonean presidential election.
In October 2022, Ibrahim Traore was appointed as president of Burkina Faso after Paul-Henri Damiba was removed in the West African country’s second coup in less than nine months.
The Sahel country plunged into political turmoil on September 30 after a group of officers decided to remove Damiba due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed uprising, dissolved the transitional government and suspended the constitution.
