Guinean President declares Russia a “reliable partner” of Guinea-Bissau

“We are reliable partners,” Sissoco Embaló told Vladimir Putin, thanking him for the invitation to visit Russia and for increasing the quota for training African soldiers and students in the country.

Putin stressed that Russia traditionally trains Guinean soldiers in its military institutions and that it has recently increased the quota to accommodate a greater number of students.

According to the Kremlin chief, “there is a growing interest” among young people in Guinea-Bissau to study in Russia.

Currently, more than 300 Guinean students attend higher education institutions in Russia.

During the meeting with the Guinean 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 stressed that last year Russia increased its trade with Africa by 10%.

According to the Russian leader, there is a “good basis” for further development of this cooperation.

Russia began to strengthen its ties with Africa after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the confrontation with several Western countries, which imposed economic sanctions against Moscow.

During this first state visit by a Guinean President to Russia, the two Governments signed four bilateral cooperation agreements, according to a source from the Presidency in Bissau who told Lusa today.

The four agreements, in the sectors of economic cooperation, trade and investment, education and vocational training and natural resources, were signed on Tuesday at the Russian government headquarters in Moscow.

Since he became President of Guinea-Bissau, Sissoco Embaló has traveled to Russia on several occasions at the invitation of Vladimir Putin, with whom he held a “long telephone conversation” on January 23rd about the international geopolitical situation and bilateral relations.

The Guinean President had already been to Moscow in May 2024 as Putin's guest at the Victory Day celebrations. Embaló was also in the Russian capital in July 2023 for the Russia-Africa summit.

In October 2022, the Guinean head of state visited Moscow and Kiev, Ukraine, in his capacity as acting president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), having spoken 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 granted 70 scholarships to young Guineans to study in Moscow in various areas related to Natural Resources.

Russal, which will explore 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.