Sahel bank signs agreement with Russia’s VEB.RF
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on La Nouvelle Tribune
The Confederal Bank for Investment and Development of the Alliance of Sahel States signed a memorandum with VEB.RF, Russia’s state-owned development company. The agreement is intended to support the financing of Sahelian projects in infrastructure, energy, transport and agriculture, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.
The Confederal Bank for Investment and Development of the Alliance of Sahel States (BCID-AES) signed a memorandum of understanding with VEB.RF, Russia’s state-owned development company, in Moscow on 28 October 2026. The agreement was signed by Balibié Serge Auguste Bayala, president of BCID-AES, and Daniil Algoulian, vice-president of VEB.RF, in the presence of Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexandre Novak, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.
The memorandum is intended to accelerate the preparation of major projects in infrastructure, energy, transport and agriculture across the area bringing together Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. BCID-AES, created on 13 March 2025, has initial capital of 500 billion CFA francs. Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo called for the framework agreement to be quickly turned into concrete projects, according to La Nouvelle Tribune.
The signing comes after the Burkinabe prime minister defended local processing at the Russia-Africa summit on 26 October, then rejected any tutelage over Burkina Faso on 28 October. It takes place during the Russia-Africa summit, which opened in Moscow on 29 October, where Russia called for contracts to be concluded with African countries.
