Foreign Minister leads delegation to Mali

A Monegasque delegation led by Laurent Anselmi, Minister for External Relations and Cooperation, paid a visit to Mali from February 12 to 14 in order to meet with the Malian authorities and confer with the Monegasque Cooperation partners on the ground. The working visit was intended to strengthen friendship and cooperation between the two states.

During their stay in Mali, the Monegasque delegation was received by the Minister of Health and Social Affairs. On this occasion, Laurent Anselmi and Michel Sidibe signed two Memoranda of Understanding concerning the fight against sickle cell anemia, the world’s leading genetic disease.

This working visit, alternating with official meetings and field visits, provided an overview of the various partnerships with the Malian authorities and with Monegasque Cooperation partners working in civil protection, health, education and socio-economic integration of the most vulnerable sections of the population. Also on the agenda was an official equipment delivery ceremony at the National School of Civil Protection in Bamako, and a renewal of the partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, aimed at strengthening security food in northern Mali.

Laurent Anselmi also participated alongside the former Malian head of state, Amadou Toumani Touré, president of the Children’s Foundation, in the inauguration ceremony of the Mali-Monaco-SHARE cardiac catheterisation unit of the Mother-Child Hospital of Bamako, in the presence of the Monegasque association SHARE, promoter of the project.

Bilateral cooperation between the Principality of Monaco and Mali was initiated in 2006. It was reinforced in 2011 by the signing of a framework cooperation agreement on the occasion of the arrival in Monaco of the former Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, as well as in 2012 by the State Visit to Mali by HSH the Sovereign Prince. In March 2019, the second session of the Bilateral Cooperation Commission was held in the Principality.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Monaco Government Press Service