BAMAKO, Mali 

Mali and Azerbaijan have expressed interest to strengthen bilateral ties with focus on energy, mining and improving public service, an official statement said on Wednesday. 

The bilateral relations were discussed during a meeting between Mali President Col. Assimi Goita and Elchin Oktyabr Oglu Amirbayov, special envoy of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, according to a statement by the Mali presidency.

Amirbayov said Baku was interested in strengthening and diversifying ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation with Mali.

Intensifying economic exchanges with Bamako in several areas including energy, mining, vocational education and improving public service were discussed during the meeting, the statement said.

It added the visiting Azerbaijani delegation proposed to establish a regular consultation mechanism to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Early this month, Amirbayov also held similar discussions with Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore and the two expressed an interest to cooperate in several sectors, including energy and mining, to boost relations.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are members of Alliance of Sahel States, formed in September last year.

The three nations withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, which had threatened to intervene militarily in Niger following a coup in that country last year.

Since then, the three nations have worked together to combat terrorism and integrate in areas such as single passport, communications, and diplomacy.

*Writing by Riyaz ul Khaliq in Istanbul

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