Panafrican News Agency

Malian, Ivorian experts express support for delimitation of common border

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Malian and Ivorian experts have expressed  their desire to support the delimitation of their common border, official sources said here Monday.

This commitment came at the end of work of the joint technical commission for the delimitation of the Mali-Côte d'Ivoire border which ended here last Friday, PANA learned Monday from the ministry in charge of territorial administration.

The commission recommended the mobilization of resources so that the programme of activities drawn up can be implemented as soon as possible.

It also validated a memorandum of understanding for a period of five years, covering the organization and functioning of the commission with a fund.

It also worked on the development of an action plan focusing on documentary research, delimitation, and border demarcation operations.

The Executive Secretary of the National Boundary Commission of Côte d'Ivoire, Diakaridia Konaté, noted that "this meeting has really enabled us to lay a solid and innovative foundation for the process of materializing our common border".

"We are also convinced that this new chapter of collaboration and partnership between our two countries, which is opening under good auspices, will lead, within a reasonable time, to the accomplishment of the missions entrusted to us by our two governments, namely the materialization of the Mali-Côte d'Ivoire border," added Konaté.

The Malian minister in charge of territorial administration said: "We must continue to work intensely and ensure that our borders remain places of life and not walls," he said, recalling that Mali and Côte d'Ivoire had communities that were in place before independence and especially before the borders.

Over the past three days, the two parties reviewed issues relating to the materialization of their common border.

-0- PANA GT/IS/MTA/RA  30Aug2021